Tour de France Stage Report: Stage 13 was a sprinter’s stage, but a very hard one with short, tough climbs on the run-in to the finish. The main problem was the wind that caused echelons and many splits and then there had to be a crash as the sprint got going. Biniam Girmay had his Intermarché-Wanty men on the front, but it was Jasper Philipsen’s day just ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech). The GC didn’t change, apart from Primoz Roglič not starting.
The last K
Jasper Philipsen won an exciting 13th stage of the Tour de France in to Pau. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider beat Wout van Aert and Pascal Ackermann after a stage of echelons. Tadej Pogačar remains leader on the general classification.
The perfect finish for Jasper Philipsen
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “The Lot-et-Garonne serves up some lovely balcony roads early in the stage, when the formation of the breakaway will be closely monitored by the sprinters’ teams, who will have studied the route carefully. If they judge their effort correctly, they won’t be caught out by the day’s escapees. However, amidst the hilly terrain approaching the finish, the Blachon and Simacourbe climbs could pose a problem for those sprinters who don’t feel comfortable in the hills.”
The Tour now heads towards the Pyrenees. There are several hills in the last 50 kilometres that will put the sprinters in trouble, but should give the ‘puncheurs’ a chance to escape. There are two categorised climbs:. The Cat.4 Côte de Blachon (1.8km at 5.5%) and the Côte de Simacourbe (2.5km at 5.2%). There are then rolling roads before the descent to Pau. The final will be fast, but will there be any sprinters at the front?
Mark Cavendish – Declassed yesterday, win today? The final might be too tough
The thirteenth stage started with a bang. A large leading group with many top men got away: Mathieu van der Poel and Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Julien Bernard and Tom Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Kevin Niets and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Rui Costa, Marijn van den Berg and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Arnaud De Lie and Brent Van Moer (Lotto Dstny), Jakub Fuglsang and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Frank van den Broek (dsm firmenich-PostNL), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan), Magnus Cort and Jonas Abrahamsen wearing the KOM jersey (Uno-X Mobility).
Stage win No.4 for Bini?
This was a large and strong leading group. Yates was the best placed at 7 minutes on the general classification. A number of teams were not happy with the composition of the early break, partly due to the presence of Yates. One of those teams was Visma | Lease a Bike. The Dutch team decided, when the wind was coming from the right direction, to split the peloton into echelons.
Nice graphics on Dylan Groenewegen’s Giant bike
They succeeded and a small group broke away. Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel joined them for a very elite group. That group of favourites looked to be crossing to the escapees, but due to the work of INEOS Grenadiers in the peloton, it didn’t work. The situation didn’t slow in the peloton
Jonas Vingegaard back in the mask
INEOS Grenadiers, Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale and Jayco AlUla continued to chase, so the break had less than a 1 minute lead after 70 kilometres. In the break they had lost their power. Cort decided to attack and took Grégoire, Kwiatkowski and Bernard with him. The four tried to get away from Yates and the others.
Remco Evenepoel also not taking any chances with covid around
It turned out to be a smart move, because co-operation behind the Cort group wasn’t good. The four rode away from the other escapees, who were being caught by the bunch. The large group, including World champion Van der Poel, was caught after 95 kilometres. So with 70 kilometres to go there was only four riders off the front of the race: Cort, Grégoire, Kwiatkowski and Bernard. Their lead was 1 minute.
Jonas Abrahamsen in the KOM kit, but Pogačar leads
The pace continued to increase in the peloton and when the wind picked up, echelons formed again. Visma | Lease a Bike, UAE Team Emirates and a keen Remco Evenepoel were once again in the mix. This time the peloton split into several parts. The big absentee was Adam Yates, who had ridden hard in the early part of the stage. All the other big names on the GC were present in the first group.
Tadej Pogačar shouldn’t have any problems holding yellow today
Due to the high speed; Cort, Grégoire, Kwiatkowski and Bernard were caught. The second echelon also caught the first echelon. A group including Mark Cavendish, Fernando Gaviria, Tom Pidcock, Mohorič and Van der Poel had been distanced and would not return to the front of the race.
Abrahamsen wanted to be in the break
The final of stage thirteen was not easy. There was a lot of climbing on the menu in the last 40 kilometres, including two Cat.4 climbs. This inspired Richard Carapaz and Tobias Halland Johannessen to attack, which was bad news for the sprinters. Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff were dropped.
The wind was the big problem
The attack by Carapaz and Halland Johannessen failed due to the work of the teams that still had a sprinter, but that didn’t stop the attackers. Jasper Stuyven was the next to try, he took Van Moer and Fabien Grellier with him. That attack also had little success. There was never any control in the peloton, which resulted in constant attacks.
An echelon race
In the last 5 kilometres there was a little more organisation in the peloton and so it looked like the stage would end in a sprint from a thinned out peloton. Intermarché-Wanty had a strong sprint lead-out train, but Girmay lost his position due to a crash in the final kilometre upsetting the rhythm. Maxim Van Gils touched Amaury Capiot, which brought down a handful of riders.
Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) in one of the failed breaks
Christophe Laporte hit the front very early, so Van Aert had to start his sprint too soon. Philipsen quickly came past, but Van Aert kept pushing hard. Van Aert was not fast enough and Philipsen won by half a bike length. Pascal Ackermann took third place.
Jasper Philipsen had the power
Stage winner, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “We pushed hard from the start and we never slowed down. The crosswinds livened up the entire stage. We had two riders in front, Mathieu van der Poel and Axel Laurance. But the peloton continued to chase behind them and I continued to believe in my chances of victory in the sprint. Christophe Laporte took the sprint perfectly to Wout van Aert, but I was on his wheel and I was able to pass him as I wanted. Today I had my best feelings since the start of the Tour. We didn’t start in the best way but we’ve turned things around in our favour. But we always want more. We will see day-by-day how far this will take us. In any case, I’m super happy today.”
Philipsen – No disaster for Jasper
Overall leader and 9th on the stage, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): “I was expecting the stage to heat up after 100 kilometres, but it turned out to be chaotic from the start. We were lucky to have Adam [Yates] at the front, as it enabled us to take a bit of a rest day as a team. Coming into the last few kilometres, my teammates put me in a good position and kept me safe into the finish. I was not planning to contest the sprint, and when I saw how dangerous it was becoming I just took it easy to the line. I like the upcoming stages in the Pyrenees. Ahead of the Tour I didn’t know which specific climbs we were tackling, but now I’ve checked them and it’s all climbs I already know and like. The way we have raced in the last three days is going to affect how these two stages unfold, as we are racing hard every day. Anyway, the most important thing is that our shape is pretty good. It was sad to see Juan Ayuso having to withdraw from the race. He was not feeling well, but luckily everybody in the team is fine – it’s just him who is sick. It is a bit of a blow for us, as we were expecting him to be one of the key guys for the mountains. As a team, I believe we can be strong even with one guy less. Joao [Almeida] and Adam [Yates] are flying in the mountains, Pavel [Sivakov] and Marc [Soler] are performing great on all terrains, and Nils [Politt] and Tim [Wellens] are also very strong. I feel we are growing stronger and stronger every day.”
It wasn’t that close
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Tour de France Stage 13 Result:
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 3:23:09
2. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
5. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
6. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek
7. Clement Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
9. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 13:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 52:40:58
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:06
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 4:20
5. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 4:40
6. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:38
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 6:59
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 7:36
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 7:54
10. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 9:18.
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