Tour de France 2022 Favourites stage 16: Winning on descent

foto: Cor VosThe 16th stage on the Tour de France serves two tough climbs in the last 60 kilometres before finishing on descent. Although the stage win might as well go to a GC contender. (Slideshow route/profile)

Matej Mohoric is another outstanding descender who will be looking with glee at the profile of stage 16. This spring, the Slovene gave a master class in the descent of the Poggio. He distanced the field and won Milan-San Remo on outstanding fashion. Yet, we didn’t see the best Mohoric this Tour/

Before strong descenders are given the opportunity to showcase their special talents there are two obstacles to overcome, the Port de Lers and the Mur de Péguère. This first one is a 11.4 kilometres climb at 7% and the second is a 9.3 kilometres toil at 7.9%. The first 6 kilometres of the Mur de Péguère are nothing special, but then the actual Mur – or, Wall – begins. The last 3.3 kilometres climb at almost 13% to the summit.

Auch! The first rider over the top enters a flying descent of 17 kilometres. The downhill flattens out a little in the last 10 kilometres, but still, the road continues to go downhill. So a finish at breakneck speeds is to be expected.

Obviously, the big question is whether or not the GC riders will go for the stage win. If so, their teams have to keep the lead group on a leash for the entire day before the leaders come forward in the last kilometres of the Mur de Péguère and give it a shot at the win and the time bonuses. Otherwise, the winner will emerge from the breakaway and minutes later we’ll see another interesting battle between the riders with yellow on their minds.

Favourites 16th stage 2022 Tour de France

*** Dylan Teuns, Aleksandr Vlasov, Maximilian Schachmann
** Tadej Pogacar, Romain Bardet, Tom Pidcock, Matej Mohoric
* Marc Soler, Michael Woods, Felix Großschartner, Neilson Powless

Another interesting read: route 16th stage 2022 Tour de France.