Tune in tonight for Stage 10 from Morzine les Portes du Soleil to Megeve. Watch all the action live from 9:20pm (AEST) on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker, 9:30pm (AEST) on SBS and SBS On Demand.
A long and action packed week between rest days took riders from Denmark, through France, and in and out of Switzerland. Catch up on the highlights from the last six days before the next great battles take place in the French Alps.
Stage 4
Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) stormed away from the bunch to emphatically and ecstatically win Stage 4 - a route filled with short, sharp climbs as the Tour rolled through France for the first time in 2022.
The versatile rider, who blew the field to pieces, started the stage in the yellow jersey after three second-place finishes in the opening three stages.
Stage 5
Emotions ran high after a cobble-filled Stage 5 as Australian Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech) claimed the win in a photo finish ahead of Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux).
“I can’t believe I got it on the line there,” said Clarke. “I was cramping in both legs, I just lined up the biggest throw I could possibly do and I just prayed it was enough. I still don’t quite believe it.”
The other big drama from this stage wasn't from a cobble-induced crash as most riders and fans feared, but from a haye bale falling into the road and causing heavy crashes for several riders including Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and General Classification hopeful, Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) who was forced to withdraw.
Stage 6
Stage 6 saw the yellow jersey change shoulders, but not without a fight. Wout van Aert broke away from the bunch in a gutsy, early move but was eventually reeled in. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirites) timed his day's efforts to perfection taking his first stage victory of the 2022 Tour de France and with it, the coveted 'maillot jaune'.
Stage 7
La Super Planche des Belles Filles marked the first summit finish of the 2022 Tour de France, and Pogačar marked himself as the rider to beat. After his UAE Team Emirates teammates chased down the day's breakaway, Pogačar accelerated his way up the final (surely painful) metres of the stage like it was flat.
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) was the only rider able to visibly put Pogačar under pressure, narrowly missing the stage win himself.
Stage 8
An uphill finish in Lausanne, Switzerland, saw Wout van Aert nab his second stage win of the Tour in impressive style, with the Belgian master-of-everything able to put power through the pedals when others simply could not.
For Michael Matthews, it was another near miss as he was forced to accept a second second-place finish. It was also a tough day for Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën) who crashed hard in the opening kilometres of the stage flaring up a glute injury he sustained on Stage 2.
Stage 9
In the final stage before the second rest day of the 2022 Tour, Bob Jungels (AG2R Citroën) took the win after pedalling away - and staying away - from the field with 65 kilometres to go.
"I thought I could make up some time on the downhill," Jungels said. "I knew I wouldn’t explode, but the last two kilometres were endless. I took all the risks I could and it happened."
While Stage 9 didn't provide a huge shake-up the GC, the Alpes loom large in riders' minds as they conserve what they can before the next big and exciting days of the Tour unfold tonight (AEST).
