Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck won stage 13 of the Tour de France, a 165km flat ride from Agen to Pau, pipping Wout Van Aert to the line in a crash-marred sprint finale to win his second stage in four days.
Visma-Lease a Bikes Van Aert had looked set for victory when he was led out by his teammate but Philipsen picked the right moment to attack and overtook his Belgian compatriot who also finished second on stage 12. Another Belgian sprinter, Arnaud De Lie, was also in the running but he saw his hopes of a sprint victory evaporate when he was involved in a crash in the final kilometre where several riders hit the deck. Pascal Ackerman was third while Biniam Girmay, who has won three stages so far, was fourth.
Tadej Pogacar, meanwhile, retained the yellow jersey and the UAE Team Emirates rider stays one minute and six seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel while Jonas Vingegaard is a further eight seconds behind. Pogacar is looking to become the first rider in 26 years to achieve the Giro dItalia and Tour double.
J.A.S.P.E.R #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/xp1A8pxzjD
Tour de France (@LeTour) July 12, 2024
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 52hrs 40mins 58secs
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +1mins 6secs
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1mins 14secs
Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4mins 20secs
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 40secs
Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +5mins 38secs
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +6mins 59secs
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +7mins 36secs
Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +7mins 54secs
Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +9mins 18secs
Enjoy!
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3hrs 23mins 09 secs
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) Same time
Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech)
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)
Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious)
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates)
Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ)
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility)
With around 700m to go Lotto Dstny were piloting Arnaud De Lie up the left-hand side but there was just no space, which then created the crash.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech)
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)
Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious)
The man who won four stages last year secures his second stage victory this year. Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrate! Wout van Aert challenges right to the line but Philipsen holds on for the win. Ackermann takes third. Girmay was never really in contention but comes home in fourth.
Jasper Philipsen masters the chaos to take his second stage win #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/zNqCgRpPnP
ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 12, 2024
Big crash with just over 500m to go as De Lie will not be contesting this sprint. That was a nasty crash. Somehow De Lie stays on his bike despite being right in the midst of the crash.
Under the flamme rouge we go and Girmay is in the perfect position with teammates giving him a leadout.
Abrahamsen is done as the man in the green jersey Girmay is right at the front.
Abrahamsen has gone off the front as we go under the 3km to go banner but he is never going to go all the way.
Girmay has moved himself up towards the front with De Lie right next to him.
Girmay, Philipsen, De Lie, Ackermann, van Aert, Demare and Coquard are all still in this lead group. All to play for with 5km remaining.
Frenetic to say the least! There is not as much control as there normally is but still all set for a sprint finish.
More attacks! Stuyven goes again but has Laporte on his wheel, tracking that move from a mile away.
The peloton has now reeled the attackers back in.
There is a lack of control at the moment in the peloton as Mathieu Burguadeau (TotalEnergies) attacks. Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) goes with him and they join the front duo.
@mat_burgaudeau attacks from the main group! @mat_burgaudeau tente de sortir à son tour !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/vMPxSks1vY
Tour de France (@LeTour) July 12, 2024
Stuyven and van Moer have 15 seconds on the peloton but that still does not feel enough.
Stuyven and van Moer have dropped Grellier. Behind there are now more attacks out of the peloton.
Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) has decided that now is the time for an attack and he is joined by Brent van Moer (Lotto Dstny) and Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies).
A good effort from Carapaz and Johannessen but they are caught, which did feel inevitable.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) was in the initial breakaway but has his team on the front of the peloton to increase the pace, perhaps to try and get rid of some of the sprinters as they head up an uncategorised climb. The gap has now halved just in the last few kilometres.
Carapaz and Johannessen come over the top and still have 30 seconds on the peloton. Johannessen once again takes the one king of the mountains point like he did on the previous climb. It is still very unlikely that they will be able to stay out in front but you just never know, especially if there is any indecision in the peloton.
It does not look like Groenewegen will be in contention for a sprint finish as he is a minute down on the peloton and 90 seconds behind the lead duo.
The front duo hit the foot of Côte de Simacourbe, a similar climb to Côte de Blachon.
Carapaz and Johannessen have nearly 20 seconds on the peloton but that does not feel like it is anywhere near enough. We have another category four climb to come up Côte de Simacourbe.
A couple of sprinters in Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) have dropped off the back of the peloton and are fighting to get back on.
Carapaz and Johannessen come over the climb together with just a handful of seconds over the peloton. Johannessen takes the one king of the mountains point available.
There are attacks off the front up this climb with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) leading the attacks. He is joined by Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
@RichardCarapazM and @TobiasJohannes1 attack ahead of the Côte de Blachon summit @RichardCarapazM et @TobiasJohannes1 attaquent avant le sommet de la Côte de Blachon #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Awi3GA82bm
Tour de France (@LeTour) July 12, 2024
The peloton has hit the first of two category climbs today up Côte de Blachon, a category four climb which is 1.5km in length.
The front two groups have now come together as sprinters like Arnaud Demare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) are back in the lead group. The Cavendish group is done for the day though as they now more than three minutes back.
We now have four groups on the road:
Yellow jersey group
Peloton +23secs
Cavendish group +1min 49secs
Back of the race +2min 41secs
There were 22 riders in the initial breakaway but the final four have now been caught by the yellow jersey group.
The next group is 45 seconds behind with the Cavendish group now over 90 seconds back.
There are 43 riders in the front peloton now. Some of the sprinters have made it; Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), Arnaud De Lie (LottoDstny), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) all in there.
The top three in the general classification; Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, are all in the front peloton and they are only now just over 10 seconds behind the lead quartet.
Mark Cavendish will likely not be contesting for the stage victory as he is in the back group along with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Fernando Gaviria.
The peloton has been split into three groups on these exposed roads.
Here we go with the crosswinds! We have splits in the peloton from around 30th place backwards. Echelons incoming! The winds are up to just over 20km/h.
The race is heading for Pau and the winds north of the city are strong so everyone in the peloton will be that bit more cautious and tense about the upcoming crosswinds.
Over the course of the first two hours the average speed is just a tick under 50km/h.
Cees Bol has been told over the Astana Qazaqstan team radio to make sure he is looking after Mark Cavendish. The peloton has now absorbed the second group on the road so just four riders remain ahead of the peloton.
The peloton have nearly caught the second group on the road, which is the remainder of the original breakaway, but there is still a small gap to close. Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) is not giving up and has attacked from that second group. Here are the top five from the intermediate sprint at Nogaro:
Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), 20pts
Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), 17
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), 15
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), 13
Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Dstny), 11
The front quartet come to the intermediate sprint, with no-one massively interested in the points available in the green jersey competition. Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) is allowed to roll over the line first for the maximum 20 points with Julien Bernard second. The peloton are now just over a minute behind the leaders.
We are approaching the intermediate sprint at Nogaro, which hosted the conclusion of stage four last year. That stage was won by Jasper Philipsen at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in a chaotic finish which involved some heavy crashes, including Fabio Jakobsen. He ended up abandoning the Tour last year ahead of stage 12 after that crash on stage four and his bad luck has continued this year as he failed to finish yesterdays stage.
The front quartet have 44 seconds over the rest of the initial breakaway, with the peloton a further 40 seconds back.
The leading quartet of Cort, Kwiatkowski, Gregoire and Bernard now have over 20 seconds to the rest of the initial breakaway.
At last years Tour Kwiatkowski won stage 13 up the iconic Grand Colombier.
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) has attacked out of the breakaway and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) have responded to form a quartet.
Meanwhile in Italy…
Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) has won stage six of the Giro dItalia Women, the 159km long San Benedetto del Tronto-Chieti. Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) finished second and third respectively.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Liane Lippert said: Its amazing, I had such a hard start of the Giro and now this win makes it so special. I was dreaming the victory since the breakaway started but at the same time I had to be mentally strong and focused. I had a very bad injury, it was hard to come back but I believed it and now I feel so happy.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl – Trek) retains the Maglia Rosa.
The main source of concern for the peloton is the presence of Adam Yates in the breakaway. He started the day seventh in the general classification, six minutes and 59 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar. He won the opening stage of last years Tour, beating his twin brother Simon in Bilbao to take the yellow jersey.
A united front has been formed in the peloton as five teams are contributing to reduce this gap, which is now back down to 51 seconds. The Ineos Grenadiers riders are told over team radio to ask Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-Quick Step to contribute two riders to the front and so will they. Yesterday Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) secured his third stage victory at the Tour this year and will still be hoping he has a shot at four later. Here he is speaking ahead of todays stage:
“It’s nice to see my country super happy”Biniam Girmay says he might have to change his sim card as his phone keeps blowing up with messages #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/qfYdfE5XPj
ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 12, 2024
We have just heard over the Decathlon-Ag2R La Mondiale team radio that they expect it to be three hours and 30 minutes at full gas. There will be some tired legs and minds at the end of todays stage if it stays like this for the duration of the stage.
The breakaways advantage is growing and it has now hit the one-minute mark. In the breakaway DSM-Firmenich PostNL have Frank van den Broek, who played a pivotal role on stage one to help his teammate Romain Bardet win the opening stage on his final Tour to take the yellow jersey.
The pace so far today has been frantic; the average speed in the first 40km is at nearly 49km/h and it could be like this for the duration of the stage.
The gap between the breakaway and the peloton is over 50 seconds.
Bad news for UAE Team Emirates as Juan Ayuso, who was in the top ten in the general classification, has just stepped off his bike and abandoned.
This is the end of the road for @juann_ayuso as he abandons the #TDF2024 C’est terminé pour @juann_ayuso, il abandonne le #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/jzgmmqqZiR
Tour de France (@LeTour) July 12, 2024
The Ineos Grenadiers riders have been told over their team radio to talk with Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-Quick Step about working together to close the gap as Adam Yates is in the breakaway.
With Ineos Grenadiers stepping up the pace in the peloton, the maillot jaune group has been absorbed by the peloton and they are around 37 seconds behind the breakaway.
This is fascinating with the 12-man maillot jaune group sat in between the breakaway (20 seconds in front) and the peloton (20 seconds behind). Tratnik has dropped back from the breakaway to help out the Visma-Lease a Bike riders.
We were just mentioning those cross/headwinds and Visma-Lease a Bike have used that to their advantage as they have ripped the peloton apart. Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel are in this very exclusive group, which has five Visma-Lease a Bike riders in total. Pogacar has just one teammate in Joao Almeida and Evenepoel has no teammates. There are just 11 riders in this group now and they are closing the gap to the breakaway.
Going into todays stage, we were brought the news that Primoz Roglic had abandoned after his crash towards the end of stage 12. The man in the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, has been speaking about his compatriots withdrawal:
“It’s a shame for the race, he was going really good, it would have been a great battle for the victory”Tadej Pogačar reacted to the news of Primož Roglič’s abandon #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/OygklAAJxS
ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 12, 2024
Visma-Lease a Bike are the ones at the moment on the front of the peloton working hard to bring down the gap to the breakaway, which is currently just over 30 seconds. Visma-Lease a Bike do have a rider in the breakaway in the shape of Jan Tratnik. The riders are currently fighting against a cross/headwind.
Here is the full list of the 22 riders in the breakaway:
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan), Magnus Cort, Jonas Abrahamsen (both Uno-X Mobility), Julien Bernard, Toms Skujins (both Lidl-Trek), Neilson Powless, Rui Costa, Marijn van den Berg (all EF Education-EasyPost), Frank van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Jakob Fuglsang, Hugo Houle (both Israel-Premier Tech), Romain Gregoire, Kevin Geniets (both Groupama-FDJ), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mathieu van der Poel, Axel Laurance (both Alpecin-Deceuninck), Brent Van Moer, Arnaud De Lie (both Lotto Dstny), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious).
We have 22 riders in the breakaway and they have nearly 30 seconds over the peloton, where there is a sense of urgency to pull this gap back. Jayco-AlUla at the front of peloton working hard.
A fairly sizeable breakaway has formed which the peloton may be keen to reel back in as they may not want that large a group to get away. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) are all in there in the breakaway. Yates is in the top ten of the general classification, just shy of seven minutes behind teammate and current leader Tadej Pogacar.
It has been a frantic start to the stage as riders are trying to form a breakaway. We have the likes of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), who is in possession of the polka dots jersey, trying to get away.
The TotalEnergies riders are told over their team radio that although it will take a lot of energy to get into the breakaway, it will be worth it.
We hit kilometre zero and we are officially under way on stage 13. Attacks immediately.
Todays stage finishes in Pau and it will be the 63rd time that a stage has finished in the city, which is the third most visited city in the history of the Tour de France, behind only Paris and Bordeaux. The last of those stage finishes in Pau was a 2019 time trial, which Julian Alaphilippe won in the yellow jersey.
Last year, Jai Hindley won stage five which began in Pau on his Tour debut to become the eighth Australian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour.
️ : “Today, we’d like to take Wout to the sprint” – @LAPORTEChristop #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/sXaNESZEt2
Tour de France (@LeTour) July 12, 2024
The peloton has begun the neutralised roll-out in Agen and we are around eight kilometres away from the flag dropping at kilometre zero.
After his crash yesterday, Primoz Roglic and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have decided that he will not start todays stage. We can hear from their Sports Director Rolf Aldag, who has been spoking this morning about Roglics withdrawal:
“It seems he is followed by bad luck, but what is impressive about him is that he always fights back”Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe Sports Director, Rolf Aldag, spoke this morning after Primož Roglič’s abandon #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/mZYqo7ORXP
ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 12, 2024
The reigning Olympic time trial champion wont be defending his title at Paris 2024 after opting out of the Slovenian national team. The Slovenian road race team consists of Tadej Pogacar, Matej Mohorič, Luka Mezgec and Jan Tratnik.
A day for the sprinters or the breakaway?
Biniam Girmay making headlines all over the world #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/m7fJ2OCqjA
Intermarché-Wanty (@IntermarcheW) July 12, 2024
Good morning and welcome to coverage of stage 13 of the 2024 Tour de France. Yesterday was yet another day at this years Tour for Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty). The Eritrean claimed his third victory at this years Tour beating out Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) in a sprint finish in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. So long as he stays on his bike and does not have to abandon the race, Girmay should claim the green jersey (points classification) in Nice in just over a week.
Whilst Girmay was enjoying another day of celebration, it was a bad day for Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The Slovenian was involved in a crash with around 12km left and lost over two minutes to his general classification rivals despite the best efforts of his team to restrict the losses. He did not look comfortable after the crash and this morning his team have confirmed that he has abandoned the race. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe posted this statement on X this morning:
Primož Roglič underwent careful examination by our medical team after yesterdays stage and again this morning. The decision has been taken that he will not start today, to focus on upcoming goals. We wish you a speedy recovery Primož.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) stills leads the general classification, with just over a minute advantage over Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Today should be another day for the sprinters as we head 165.3km from Agen to Pau but could a breakaway steal the show?
Stay with us for all the action from stage 13.
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