As it happened: Tour de France stage 13 - Sprinters dominate in Pau after echelons, GC attacks and crashes

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Tour de France stage 12 report

Tour de France stage 13 preview

Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews ' live coverage of stage 13 of the 2024 Tour de France!

We are still two hours from the start of the stage but we will have all the pre-race news and updates as the Tour de France heads south to Pau and sees the Pyrénées looming on the horizon.

Sadly the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team have just confirmed that Primož Roglič has pulled out of the race ahead of stage 13.

Roglič was one of several riders who crashed 12.2km from the end of Thursday’s race to Villeneuve-sur-Lot . He suffered road rash to his right shoulder and crossed the finish line 2:27 down on the peloton and slipped sixth overall, 4:42 behind race leader Tadej Pogačar .

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe issued a short statement.

“Primož Roglič underwent careful examination by our medical team after yesterday’s stage and again this morning,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe announced on social media. “The decision has been taken that he will not start today, to focus on upcoming goals."

"We wish you a speedy recovery Primož."

So does everyone at Cyclingnews.

Click below to read our full story on Primož Roglič  abandon from the Tour.

Primož Roglič abandons the 2024 Tour de France

This is the map of stage 13 from Agen to Pau. It takes the Tour further south and close to the Pyrénées.

The stage should deliver another bunch sprint with the sprinters’ teams surely controlling the day’s break.

However, the roads are rolling early on and in the final 40 kilometres, making it a real test of strength between the attacking baroudeur riders and the sprint teams.

The late ascents of Côte de Blachon (1.5km at 6.9%) and Côte de Simacourbe (1.8km at 6.4%) could pose a problem for those fast men who struggle on the climbs.

Our pick for the day? Biniam Girmay on Intermarche. The Eritrean is on a roll, can climb pretty and as fast.

Former professional and now a television commentator Brian Smith expressed everybody's thoughts about Primož Roglič's crash and abandon.

Today's 165.3 km stage starts in Agen at 1:30CET. The podium ceremony is underway, with the first teams on stage.

Alasdair Fotheringham and Barry Ryan are on the ground in Agen for Cyclingnews to gather the reaction to Primož Roglič's abandon and other  reaction and news, as the Tour nears the Pyrénées.

The first team on stage is Alpecin-Deceuninck, they suffered a tough day on Thursday, as Jonas Rickaert and Søren Kragh Andersen didn't make the time cut. They continue the race with six riders.

Jonas crashed early in the stage while Søren has been suffering from saddle pain for a few days and knew a abandonment was near. He tried to help Jonas in the hope of making the time limit.

"Sad that I have to leave the Tour like this," Soren says. "The saddle pain got worse and worse. I had no more option than to leave the Tour.  I really was hoping to bring Jonas at the finish on time, as last task here. Too bad it didn't work out," he said.

Astana will soon sign-on. Mark Cavendish has a chance of a 36th stage victory in Pau.

The Manxman gave an exclusive interview to Cyclingnews, with Barry Ryan producing a great feature interview.

If you aren't a Cyclingnews member, it is worth signing-up today to read Barry Ryan's superb long-read interview with Mark.

Click below to see the interview in our special Premium format.

‘I won’t ever regret stopping now, that’s for sure’ – Mark Cavendish’s last Tour de France wasn’t really about the record

Fortnuately Australia's Jarrad Drizners of Lotto-Dstny is able to race on today. He and several teammates cashes on Thursday.

After the heat on Thursday, rain has come in overnight and cooled the air.

Cloudy skies are expected all day today with a few sunny spells. Temperatures between 21 and 23°C are forecast.

Strong westerly and north-westerly winds averaging 22 to 25 km/h throughout the day could make for a hard ride southwest. The cross winds could even spark splits in the peloton but perhaps slow the attacks and so favour the peloton.

Stage 12 was a quiet day until the crash with 12km to go. Then the sprint was hectic too.

Read back over our full live coverage to understand all the action.

As it happened: Tour de France stage 12 sprint showdown as Roglič loses time in crash

Biniam Girmay became the new boss of the Tour de France sprints by taking his third win on stage 12.

This our our full stage report, results and photo gallery.

Tour de France: Biniam Girmay the new sprint boss, takes third win on stage 12

Girmay is making history and was on the front cover of L'Equipe today.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team sign-on without Primož Roglič but promise to fight on and target stage victories.

"We came here to win the Tour with Primoz, but we still have a few options to win stages," Bob Jungels said.

Biniam Girmay said his sprint victories at the Tour can play an important role in raising the profile of cycling and so investment in African cycling.

Read what he said here: Biniam Girmay hopeful Tour de France success will raise cycling’s profile amongst Black Africans

Next up on the sign-on podium is Visma-Lease a Bike.

They will perhaps look to set-up Wout Van Aert for victory today, while also looking after Jonas Vingegaard.

It's interesting to see that with COVID-19 cases again circulating in the Tour, the riders wore masks on their ride to the podium.

We're 30 minutes from the start of the stage!

Ineos Grenadiers are next on stage. They have Carlos Rodriguez and Egan Bernal as protected leaders, with Tom Pidcock and Geraint Thomas targeting stages.

This is the profile of today's stage.

The riders have rolled out of Argen and are in the 9.2km neutralised sector.

That will add an extra 15 minutes in the saddle today.

There are riders packed tight behind the red race directors car.

With the wind up and riders looking to attack to go in the break, we're expecting an aggressive start to the stage.

4km to the stage start! Get ready to go!

Mathieu van der Poel is up front. Will he go on the attack?

We can also see race leader Tadej Pogacar close to the front as the riders enter the final kilometre before the 'Depart Reel' and kick-off.

Boom! Victor Campenaerts is the first to attack.

Ten or so riders are off the front but others are chasing them.

160km to go

The riders reach an exposed section of roads and the attackers form an echelon!

We have a second echelon of chasers, with the peloton lined out behind them.

Jayco-AlUla appear to have missed the attack and so are leading the chase.

Interestingly Jan Tratnik is there for Visma.

Adam Yates, Tadej Pogacar's key lieutenant is also there.

The gap is up to 30 seconds. The elastic could snap very soon.

Adam Yates is eighth overall at 6:59, so the peloton cannot let him go. Though his fellow breakaway riders probably don't want him in there too.

There are 23 riders in the attack. Is that enough to ensure they go clear?

These are the surnames of the attackers:

Tratnik, Yates, Kwiatkowski, Bernard, Skujins, Mohoric, Geniets, Grégoire, Van der POel, Laurance, Costa, Powless, Van den Berg, De Lie, Van Moer, Lazkano, Van den Broek, Ballerini, Cort, Abrahamsen.

Visma are near the front to help the chase. They are perhaps not happy to see Yates in the attack. They are also tying to stay safe and vigilant for the attacks and splits.

150km to go

The gap remains at 30 seconds.

Juan Ayuso is at the back of the peloton and clearly suffering. Is he sick?

145km to go

Ayuso gets two sticky bottles from his team car and manages to get back to the rear of the peloton.

The peloton is lined out on the country roads of southwest France. The speed is up to 47km/h as the break tries to go clear and the peloton chases them down.

Visma have Kelderman and others riding on the front, with UAE ticked in their wheels. It's race on!

They hit exposed roads and the peloton explodes!

We can see the yellow jersey in a small group but there are several Visma riders, including Vingegaard, too!

Other GC riders are in the peloton and chasing.

Visma have four teammates in the attack with Vingegaard. Pogacar has Almieda, while Evenepoel is alone.

The  yellow jersey group is only 20 seconds behind the break, with the peloton a further 20 seconds back.

Jayco and Ineos are leading the chase of the attacks.

After suffering, Juan Ayuso has abandoned the Tour!

According to a report in Spanish newspaper AS, Ayuso tested positive for COVID-19 but the team cleared hi to race on due to having  a very low virus load.

However he struggled from the start of the stage. He shook DS Fabrizio Guidi's hand and then dropped back to climb off.

130km to go

In a protected part of the stage, the Pogacar-Visma attack has eased up and so been caught by the peloton.

They perhaps realised that they would struggle to stay away and that Visma's numbers would give Pogacar a free ride.

This was the early echelon chaos.

The attacks is down to 21 riders but their lead is up to 45 seconds and still rising.

Ineos, Soudal and Jayco are also working in the peloton to try to control Adam Yates.

UAE are trying to put pressure on Visma and others for Pogacar before the weekend's stages in Pyrénées.

With Ayuso suffering with COVID-19, several teams wore face masks at the start today, including  Visma.

The gap is rising, it's close to a minute now as the race reaches the village of sos.

There are lots of SOS calls coming from the peloton right now as riders suffer and the attack extends its lead.

This is our report on Juan Ayuso's abandon at the Tour de France and the reports he is suffering with COVID-19.

The loss of the Spaniard is a blow to the team and Pogacar's hopes of overall victory. Of course, Pogacar revealed he had COVID-19 ten days before the Tour and so is unlikely to catch it again.

Juan Ayuso abandons the Tour de France

The gap to the attack is up to 1:00, even with Geraint Thomas and Jonathan Castroviejo leading the chase.

Up front the attackers are working hard to stay away. Check out the names in the attack.  It is a quality and very serious attack.

This is the attack, with Adam Yates in there for UAE.

Visma drove the Tour de France leader's echelon attack but then eased up and dropped back to the peloton.

Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar were aso in the Visma attack.

Tadej Pogačar stayed vigilant, going with the Visma attack. He knew that teammate Adam Yates was up the road.

On a sheltered point on the stage, the peloton has started to pull back the attackers.

The gap is down to 50 seconds.

This is the view from the roadside.

There appears to be some kind of pact in the peloton, with two riders from Ineos, Soudal, Jayco and other riders woking on the front and rotating at speed.

The gap is down to 45 seconds.

The 21 riders in the attack are not all working equally and that is perhaps creating problems and slowing the pace.

The riders raced at 48.7 km/h for the first 50 kilometers of the stage. That must have hurt.

95km to go

The gap remains at 50 seconds but an attack from Magnus Cort has split the 21-rider attack.

If they attack each other, that only helps the chasers.

This was the moment that Cort caused the split. That raised the pace and hurt some of the riders in the attack. However it increased their lead on the peloton.

The four riders are Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Cort (Uno-X).

The rest of the attack is at 30 seconds and the peloton is at 1:25.

85km to go

Laurens De Plus stops for a bike change. He will have to chas hard to get back to the peloton, such is the speed.

The stage is close to the halfway point but there has not been a let-up in the raving after a leg-burning 90 minutes of racing.

The average speed remains at 49.5km/h.

75km to go

Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X) are 50 seconds ahead of the chasers from the original attack.

The peloton is about to catch Adam Yates (UAE Emirates), Bernard, Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), Geniets, Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel, Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Costa, Van den Berg (EF Education Easypost), De Lie, Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Lazkano (Movistar), Van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich), Ballerini (Astana), Cort and Abrahamsen (Uno-X).

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) won the intermediate sprint near the Nogaro motor racing circuit where a Tour stage finished last year and Jasper Philipsen won a crash-hit sprint.

The attacks swept up the points and so that allowed Biniam Girmay to avoid any stress.

70km to go

The peloton continues to ride at speed as it chases the attackers.

The four are at 55 seconds, with the remains of the attack, including Mathieu van der Poel and Adam Yates now within sight.

After a rocket-speed 90km of racing, there could soon be some control and calm in the race.

The peloton catches the attackers, leaving just Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X) up the road at 1:00.

Will the peloton let them go and just control them, or will more attacks come whenever the road are exposed to crosswinds?

Stay with us to find out.

The gap to the four attackers is rising after the peloton came back together It is now 1:20. However the wind is still blowing and so attacks later in the stage near Pau are still possible.

UAE have confirmed Juan Ayuso abandoned the Tour due to illness and confirmed to Cyclingnews that the Spaniard was suffering with COVID-19.

This is our updated story.

Tadej Pogačar loses key climbing domestique as Juan Ayuso abandons the 2024 Tour de France

58km to go

Echelons! An exposed sector of roads sees Visma and UAE again split the peloton!

Visma are driving the front GC echelon of about 30 riders, there are two other echelons behind them.

What a stage! What a race!

The speed is so high that the GC group is about to sweep up the four attackers.

Pogacar and Evenepoel are doing big turns on the front. Vingegaard is there with teammate Christophe Laporte.

Classics riders like Alberto Bettiol are also in the GC attack and driving the pace.

Some of the sprinters are in chase group, including Mark Cavendish.

50km to go

So much has happened so far today but so much more can still happen.

Then tomorrow the Tour climbs into the Pyrenees.

The GC group catch Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X).

A first chase group is at 45 seconds, with the Cavendish goup at  1:20.

Crash! Nils Politt of UAE goes down in the front group.

The peloton is chasing the yellow jersey group. This could reform but the Cavendish group is 1:50 back.

Interestingly Israel have Pascal Ackermann in the front group and so are driving the race long, in the hope other sprinters suffer in the chase.

However the gap is only 10 seconds now.

40km to go

Gruppo compatto. But only up front, the Cavendish, Gaviria, van der Poel group is at 3:00.

There are only 40km to race but they include half of the 2000 metres of climbing of the stage.

On the Côte de Blachon (1.6 km à 6.1%) , Richard Carapaz of EF attacks!

Carapaz is away with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). they lead by 20 seconds but the group behind includes  lot of strong riders and even some sprinters.

We can see Biniam Girmay in the yellow jersey group but Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff have been distanced.

Carapaz is going all in to try to escape. He and Tobias Halland Johannessen are on the Côte de Simacourbe with 28km to race.

The peloton and the fast finishers, are letting them hang off the front.

25km to go

Carapaz and Halland Johannesse fight on together but they suffering, even with a slight tail wind.

Th gap is 30 seconds, with Van Aert and De Lie there.

De Lie has asked his Lotto teammates to lead the chase and close the gap.

De Lie was in the early break but clearly feels good today.

Victor Campenaerts is doing the work for De Lie and brings the gap down to 10 seconds.

Peloton groupe' -  All back together. Apart from a number of sprinters, who are out the back.

20km to go

Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay are in the group. So are Michael Matthews, Luca Mozzato and Wout Van Aert.

Jasper Stuyven sparks another attack.

Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies) were with Stuyven but a surge blew Grellier off the wheel and hurt Van Moer.

They lead by 15 seconds as other teams begin to position their sprinters and do vital chase work.

8km to go

They're back together. but more attacks fly.

Stuyven goes again!  Most teams want a sprint but others do not.

The run-in to the finish is on wide roads on the outskirts of Pau.

Position is vital.

4km to go

Some riders are sitting up. This will be a very reduced-rider sprint.

Lots of riders will try to take on the big-name sprinters.

3km to go

Pogacar is up front to stay safe.

Watch out for EF's Marijn van den Berg in the sprint.

Boom Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) makes yet another attack.

Lotto close him down, De Lie is there. Is it his day?

Intermarche take control of the lead out.

Last kilometre!

Crash! De Lie involved.

Jasper Philipsen wins it!

He beat his big rival Wout Van Aert.

Pascal Ackermann was third and Girmay fourth.

The crash in the final kilometre was sparked after Arkea and lotto riders clashed. That sparked other riders to go down into the barriers and De Lie was forced to slam on the brakes and lean onto the barriers, his sprint hopes over.

Cees Bol was involved in the crash.

That is Jasper Philipsen's second stage win of the 2024 Tour.

Philipsen won four stages last year but struggled in the first week. Now he seems back to his best.

Here is the first shot of Philipsen's second win.

"Already with two stages wins, it's not a bad Tour. But we want more," Philipsen said.

The Arkea rider involved the late crash was Amaury Capiot. He is battered and bruised but rolls to the finish line, pushed by his DS.

Amaury Capiot seemed to move across the road in the final kilometre and the Lotto rider bumped his shoulder as he passed.  That sparked the crash, with Capiot going down hard.

Here comes the Mathieu van der Poel, Cavendish group. They finish 13 minutes down on Philipsen but they are still faster than the expected fastest speed for the stage.

It was that kind of day.

Jasper Philipsen said:

"It was full gas from the start and the bunch never slowed down. It was crosswinds, with a big group ahead.

"We had two guys in with Mathieu and Axel Laurance, so I thought they would continue until the line but the peloton keep on going, and so I also kept on believing, because the feeling was good, much better than I had the previous week.

"I could start my sprint with confidence, and I'm happy nobody could pass."

Philipsen managed to get the jump on Wout Van Aert at the right time and only looked back after crossing the line.

Philipsen added:

"Wout was piloted perfectly by Christophe Laporte. I was in the wheel but I had to launch early and so I could pass him. So I'm really happy with my sprint and with the feeling.

"This was my best feeling so far in the Tour de France, we didn't have the best start, also feeling wise, some bad luck, but I'm happy we could turn it around.

"We are already with two stage wins, so it's not a bad Tour. We always want more, but yeah, we just have to go day by day and enjoy the victory today."

Thanks to his stage win, Philipsen has reduced his gap to Girmay in the points competition from 107 to 75 points.

The stage ended with a sprint but was a day attack, echelons and even GC-rider attacks.

UAE put Adam Yates in the first major attack. Then Visma went on the attack but Pogacar responded.

Matteo Jorgenson played a key role protecting Jonas Vingegaard.

"We knew it was going to be a really nervous and hard day with the wind, no matter what we did," the American said.

"Once we got through the start, there was a bit of a situation. Yates got in the move and it was pretty big group, so we had to start pretty early controlling. Then once we got to the main crosswind section and it didn't really explode too much, we wanted to control it for Wout.

"We believed that he would win after some so many close calls. But it didn't work out unfortunately."

It's interesting to hear that Visma rode for Wout Van Aert on the even of a big weekend in the Pyrenees.

This is how Jasper Philipsen won the stage.

This was the moment of the crash in the final kilometre.

Tadej Pogačar again pulled on the yellow jersey as race leader after finishing ninth on the stage. He also keeps the polka-dot jersey, which will again be worn by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), who remains in second place in the KOM competition.

Tadej Pogačar spoke post-stage about the aggressive racing on stage 13, the mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

"We expected for it to be chaotic but we didn't expect that much of a big group in the front. That we had Adam in the front and it turned out to be really great for us, we didn't need to spend a lot today," he said.

"I like the climbs in the Pyrenees. Before the Tour I wasn't sure what climbs we were doing but after that I checked them out, they're climbs that I know and I'm really looking forward to it."

Pogačar also spoke about losing Juan Ayuso, who tested positive for COVID-19 but then abandoned the Tour after the fast start to the stage.

"It's a bit of a blow - for sure he was one of the guys coming into the Tour de France that I was thinking will be one of the keys in the mountains.

"But it's not such a big blow, Joao and Adam are flying in the mountains and Pavel and Mark are doing everywhere on all terrains a good job, and Nils and Tim are improving - we are growing as a group and even with one less we can be strong."

Despite testing positive for COVID-19 Ayuso spoke to the media after the stage. He die not cofirm he was suffering with low-viral load COVID-19 but UAE Team Emirates confirmed that to Cyclingnews.

Ayuso said: "When health issues come like this, I cannot really do much.

"I'm worried that I cannot put my heart into helping but on the other side I think the team is very capable. They’re still very and have a very good chance of winning this race. I'll be cheering for them."

This is our full story on the Spaniard's withdrawal from the Tour.

Tadej Pogačar loses key climbing domestique as Juan Ayuso abandons the 2024 Tour de France

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) was one of the riders blocked behind a crash in the final kilometre of stage 13 of the Tour de France, and so he was unable to race for the stage win.

This is what happened and how riders reacted.

Lotto Dstny, Arkéa-B&B lead-outs collide in stage 13 sprint crash at the Tour de France

To fully understand all the attacks, echelons, crashes and racing on stage 13, read our full stage report and see our photo gallery.

Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen powers to stage 13 victory in Pau ahead of Van Aert

The Tour de France climbs into the Pyrenees at the weekend with stage 14 from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan/Pla d'Adet. It is short at 151.9km but includes 4000 metres of climbing in the final 80km.

Tour de France 2024 - Stage 14 preview

These are the stage 13 results via our friends at FirstCycling.

It has been another hectic and  exciting day of racing at the Tour de France and we have full coverage and reaction from the day.

But don't miss our exclusive interviews and long-features.

Barry Ryan recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Mark Cavendish about his long career and why he is still racing.

This is a member's exclusive and published on our special Premium format. Sign-up to Cyclingnews to read it.

‘I won’t ever regret stopping now, that’s for sure’ – Mark Cavendish’s last Tour de France wasn’t really about the record

Alasdair Fotheringham is at the Tour de France with Barry Ryan and spoke to Egan Bernal about his gradual but constant return to form after his life-threatening crash.

It is another great read.

'A great leap forward' - former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal makes giant strides on comeback trail

Join us for full live coverage of stage 14 on Saturday and stage 15 on Sunday.

Jonas Vingegaard is not the only rider on a successful comeback trail at Visma-Lease A Bike in this year's Tour de France and Belgian star Wout van Aert provided the cycling world with another reminder of that at Pau, where he claimed second on a frantic reduced bunch sprint behind fellow-Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Near-miss in Pau latest confirmation of rising Tour de France form for Wout van Aert

At the Tour de France start in Agen on Friday morning, most talk was of Primož Roglič's crash the previous day and the Tour de France's imminent entry into the Pyrenees the next.

Outside the UAE Team Emirates bus, however, manager Mauro Gianetti warned against underestimating the task that lay immediately before Tadej Pogačar et al, namely stage 13 to Pau. "In the Tour, every day is a key day," he smiled.

'We are not obligated to attack' – Tadej Pogačar weighs up strategy as Tour de France reaches Pyrenees

The race communique is now available, and Arnaud De Lie's lead-out rider, Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny), was handed a 1500CHF fine and lost 60 UCI points for improper conduct: "hit with the shoulder that endangered other riders," in the final sprint in Pau.

Lotto Dstny, Arkéa-B&B lead-outs collide in stage 13 sprint crash at the Tour de France