Highlights from the last six days of the Tour de France include a bit of almost everything: bold breakaways, surprise attacks, infamous climbs, fast descents, touching tributes, general classification shake-ups, unfortunate withdrawals and emotional, hard-earned victories.
Stage 10
The first of three back-to-back-to-back days in the French Alps kicked off with 148 kilometres of mountainous riding that saw Magnus Cort (EF Education-Easypost) take the win in a dramatic photo finish ahead of Australian Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco).
Stage 11
With one big climb after another, Stage 11 was tipped to be one of the stages where the general classification could be won or lost... and it certainly delivered.
Impressive teamwork from the Jumbo-Visma team saw Jonas Vingegaard ride away from his rivals and into the yellow jersey. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) slid backwards through the field further than anyone expected, eventually finishing two minutes and 51 seconds behind Vingeaard and slipping to third overall.
Stage 12
With a summit finish at the top of Alpe d'Huez, thousands of fans lined the sides of the 13.8-kilometre climb to the Stage 12 finish line. Current Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion and cyclo-cross world champion, Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers), claimed his maiden Tour de France win in another dramatic stage.
Stage 13
A powerful attack finished off with an even more powerful sprint proved to be the winning combination for Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) who took his first career stage win at the Tour de France.
The peloton relished the flat stage from Bourg d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne after the previous three days' climbing, although not without any incidents. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) had a heavy crash with 70 kilometres to go, a bad run of luck continuing for the Australian in this year's Tour.
Stage 14
Australian Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) stole the show on Stage 14 with a gutsy final climb to secure his first Tour de France stage win since 2017.
"I wanted to show everyone that I am not just a sprinter, I can also ride like I rode today," said Matthews, whose win came after two tantalising second-place finishes in this year's Tour.
"I was just thinking of my daughter on that final climb the whole way up to the finish, and my wife, for how much sacrifice they make for me to make my dreams come true."
Stage 15
Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) almost won Stage 15 after a long, solo slog to Carcassonne but was caught by the peloton inside the final 450 metres.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to victory - another first-time Tour de France stage winner
As the race heads toward the Pyrenees, the other big news from Stage 15 is that Jumbo Visma's Primož Roglič withdrew from the race due to injuries sustained in Stage 5. Steven Kruijswijk (also Jumbo Visma) was forced to withdraw in a mid-stage crash.
This means Vinegaard will have significantly reduced support from his team heading into the final six stages of the Tour. He currently holds the overall lead by two minutes and 22 seconds over Pogačar and two minutes 43 seconds over Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers).
Tonight (AEST) marks the third rest day of the 2022 Tour de France. Racing will resume with Stage 16, an intermediate day in the foothills of the Pyrenees that sees the riders traverse 179 kilometres to the finish in Foix. Watch on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 8:20pm (AEST), with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast beginning at 9:30pm (AEST).
