Tour de France 2015: Stage 13 Winner, Highlights, Updated Standings and Schedule
Greg Van Avermaet of BMC won a scintillating end to Stage 13 of the Tour de France, with Peter Sagan finishing on the wheel of the winner in a dramatic conclusion.
Chris Froome placed in sixth position in a battle for the finish line—and keeps control of the leaderboard—with Vincenzo Nibali just behind in seventh.
The Tour de France's Twitter account provided the stage result, along with the leading classifications for the full tour:
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"Top 10 du jour / Top 10 of the day! #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/AZJm0L4wLi
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 17, 2015"
The temperatures soared on the Muret-to-Rodez stage of the Tour, with the heat hitting the mid-thirties celsius.
The stage was expected to hurt the sprinters in the pack, with the climbers favoured on the punishing terrain, according to Le Tour, but this wasn't to be the case at the end of the race:
A gentle start saw the peleton roll out of the neutral zone, with local rider Alexandre Geniez taking the early initiative at the front, joined by Thomas De Gendt of Lotto-Soudal, Europcar's Cyril Gautier and Wilco Kelderman from LottoNL-Jumbo. The quartet soon built up a one-minute lead, with the peloton happy to pace themselves.
Nathan Haas and Pierre-Luc Perichon fought their way to join the leaders as the breakaway gained a two-and-a-half minute lead. But Giant-Alpecin took control of the peloton, keeping the leaders within sight. At the 35-kilometre mark, the six leaders had worked a four-minute lead to their advantage, with Froome relaxed in the pack behind.
De Gendt was the most impressive in the intermediate sprint, taking maximum points, as Le Tour highlighted the latest placings. Andre Greipel of Lotto-Soudal held a slight advantage:
With the stage heavily weighted toward endurance—with three classified climbs—the race swung away from the sprinters, with the heat causing major issues for many teams. Giant-Alpecin continued to do the best work at the front of the peloton, with the gap maintained at just under four minutes from the leaders with 70 kilometres to go.
Tinkoff-Saxo helped with the pace as the chasing teams hit Midi-Pyrenees, but Jean-Christophe Peraud of AG2R crashed in the middle of the pack and needed attention from the medical car, as noted by Le Tour:
With the final climb of the day ahead—the fourth-cat Cote de la Selve—the six breakaway riders continued to lead, but with the chasing pack in full climbing mode on the tough 3.7 percent gradient. The climb was too much for Greipel, losing him crucial ground.
At the summit, Nathan Haas set out on his own from the peloton, looking to take the race by the throat. However, with 15 kilometres remaining, the pack seemed to have surrendered to the front riders, with the incredible temperatures slowing the chase.
But the breakaway began to look over their shoulders as the peloton suddenly cut the lead to just one minute, with Team Sky keeping Froome in the hunt. De Gendt joined Kelderman and Gautier at the front of the race, but their lead was a fragile one as the stage entered its conclusion. With six kilometres to go, the gap to the peloton was 30 seconds, with a dramatic finish in the offing.
The sprint talent placed itself at the front of the chasing pack, with British legend Mark Cavendish in position. On the four-kilometre descent, the gap was just 20 seconds, but Kelderman dragged the leading trio along, as highlighted by Le Tour:
But dramatically, the sprinting pack caught the trio with the line in sight, with one of the most exciting finishes of any stage.
Van Avermaet and Sagan took the front as the trio's lead evaporated, and the two riders battled to the finish. And it was BMC's Van Avermaet who grabbed the win, with Sagan on his back wheel in an explosive dash to the line.
Froome is still the man to beat on this year's Tour, and Team Sky fought a clever race to keep him in the hunt in the final minutes of Stage 13.
The British leader looks in fantastic condition, and surely only a disastrous fall can stop him winning his second Tour title, with nearly a three-minute lead in hand.
The finish was vindication for Van Avermaet, who performed well last year but could not find the kind of quality he produced on Friday afternoon.
The 30-year-old displayed all of his racing experience to hold off the lethal green-jersey-holder Sagan, who claims yet another spot on the runners-up podium.
The race now moves onto the 178.5-kilometre long Stage 14, from Rodez to Mende, with only the best climbers likely to have a chance in the challenging conditions.
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