Some interesting notes from Inner Ring re changes for 2022 ....
HmmmmmThe points competition is already something to look forward to as it promises to be more than “the sprinters’ jersey” as both Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have said they want it. Now the sprinters will of course try but this year’s route sees stages with uphill finishes like Longwy and Lausanne offering full points, a place where these two can score and others cannot
The mountain summit time bonuses of 3-2-1 seconds are gone, they weren’t much use to start with and in a race with 53km of solo time trials, even less useful
The mountains competition in recent years has seen any hors catégorie climbs at the end of a stage be worth double points (last year on Ventoux, the Col du Portet and Luz Ardiden it was 40 points for first place, not 20) but this is binned for 2022, all HC climbs are treated equally and this helps the raiders on breakaways who can take points on the earlier HC climbs during a stage and if they’re caught by the GC contenders later on they still have a good chance at getting the jersey.
Looks like they are going through areas I know very well.
... but thankfully stayed upright this time.