Tour de France to return to Switzerland in 2022

Keystone / Laurent Cipriani

Switzerland will host two of the 21 stages of the 2022 Tour de France, it has been confirmed.

At a presentation of the route for the 2022 editionExternal link, officials said on Thursday that stage eight (July 9) would see riders leave Dole in the French Jura region, southeast of Dijon, before crossing the border into Switzerland to end in Lausanne.

The next day the race will leave from nearby Aigle, home of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), cycling’s world governing body. It will continue down the Rhône Valley before climbing back into France via the Portes du Soleil ski area to end in the resort of Châtel.

Tour de France

It’s the first time in 22 years – and the sixth time in total – that Lausanne will welcome a Tour stage. It’s the first time for Aigle.

The last time the Tour de France passed through Switzerland was in 2016, when the 16th stage came via Neuchâtel to end in the Swiss capital, Bern. After a rest day the race continued to the lower Valais village of Finhaut, with a finishing line at almost 2,000 metres above sea level.

Next year’s 109th edition will be extremely varied and tough. The race will start on July 1 with a 13km individual time trial in Copenhagen, before the second stage takes the peloton over Denmark’s 18km Great Belt bridge.

The Danish start will then give way to the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix in northern France. A brief trip into Belgium then sees the peloton heading south through eastern France before entering Switzerland.

The riders will then swing back into the French Alps, with Megève making a return as well as Alpe d’Huez. After two difficult stages in the Pyrenees, the race will finish with a 40km individual time trial in southwestern France before ending on the Champs Elysees in Paris on July 24.