Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2022 Stage 20 - Lacapelle-Marival to Rocamadour

Stage 20 of the Tour de France and it is a 40.7km Individual Time Trial that starts in Lacapelle-Marival and ends in Rocamadour.

The Map

Sights and points of interest along the route

The start town has not yet ever participated in the Tour, until now.  Is is a small town but has a 13th century castle which houses an impressive collection of paintings of all the presidents of the French Republic since the second Republic.  There is the 16th century Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin and the fortified church of Saint-Martial de Rudelle.

Lacapelle-Marival Castle

Today's route is very short, it's a time trial before the big finale tomorrow in Paris.  The riders will travel through or past Anglars, Aynac with an interesting Château, Saignes with a medieval castle, Bio which is part of a regional nature park, Lavergne and then Gramat.  There is an animal park at Gramat which specialises in the protection of certain threatened species with some being re-introduced into their wild habitat.  There is also a section of the park designated to the conservation of primitive breeds of domesticated farmyard animals to preserve the diversity of breeds.

Couzou is home to La Pannonie Castle and Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte Church and then the time trial ends in Rocamadour, which is a first time Stage town.  It is a medieval town built on a rocky hillside and has a lot of history surrounding religion and pilgrimage with a sanctuary, Notre-Dame Chapel, Saint-Sauveur Basilica, Chapel of Our Lady, The Holy Way and Staircase and a Cave of Wonders. 

Rocamadour

Who Won the Stage and Who Won What Jersey

The Stage winner is Wout van Aert for Jumbo-Visma.

The Yellow Jersey won by Jonas Vingegaard for Jumbo-Visma

The Green Jersey won by Wout van Aert for Jumbo-Visma.

The Polka Dot Jersey won by Jonas Vingegaard for Jumbo-Visma.

The White Jersey won by Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates.

Combatif Award wasn't won by anyone today as its an individual time trial.

Leading team: Ineos-Grenadiers

The Challenge: In the penultimate stage of this year's race the cyclists will take on their second time trial. So guess what were doing... Today's stage will end in Rocamadour, an ancient town with cave drawings dating back to the Bronze Age. Get your timers out - you've got 10 minutes to spin as much as you can!

Suggested Fibre:  We've suggested Humbug Jacob for today; these multi-tone tops never spin the same way twice and give a lovely even spin.

What I did

I don't have Humbug Jacob but I do have Humbug Merino from the Advent Calendar.  Once again, nothing technical, just simply find the middle of the length of fibre (by holding both ends together and running it through my hands), pull apart in the middle and pre-draft then spin each piece and ply together.  If the colours blend so be it, if the colours create a barber-pole yarn so be it, I don't mind either way.

The final yarn is double-knit weight and is 100g/219m which in terms of the TdF length calculations is 657m - 2 singles plus the plied length = 3 x finished yarn length.