Tour de France LIVE: Tadej Pogacar attacks Jonas Vingegaard as Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13
The fight for the yellow jersey took another twist as Tadej Pogacar attacked Jonas Vingegaard on the Grand Colombier
Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski soloed to the top of the Grand Colombier mountain on the Tour de France and Tadej Pogacar cut a little more time off Jonas Vingegaard’s lead in the fight for the yellow jersey on Friday.
Kwiatkowski, a seasoned veteran with the Ineos Grenadiers team, was part of an early breakaway and went solo about 11 kilometers from the daunting mountaintop finish.
Vingegaard and Pogacar watched each other closely. Well shepherded by his UAE Team Emirates teammates, Pogacar did not attack before the last 500 meters of the 17.4-kilometer-long ascent, yet managed to gain some precious time.
Pogacar crossed the line in third position behind Kwiatkowski and Maxim van Gils, four seconds ahead of Vingegaard. He was awarded a time bonus of four seconds for his third-place finish to cut Vingegaard’s overall lead to just nine seconds ahead of two big mountain stages scheduled in the Alps over the weekend before Monday’s second rest day.
Follow all the latest from today’s stage 13 below.
Tour de France LIVE – Latour dropped by breakaway
24km to go: Pierre Latour has been dropped from the breakaway as the escapees continue to hold a high pace. They are managing to grow their lead over the peloton, which is now at around four minutes. That still doesn’t seem like enough of an advantage to stop Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard from coming through and winning the stage.
Tour de France LIVE – Grand Colombier climb
Here’s a lovely visualisation of the iconic Grand Colombier climb, courtesy of Strava:
Tour de France LIVE – breakaway remain out in front
40km to go: Here’s a reminder of the breakawayers, which has whittled down to 18:
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Matej Mohoric, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Mike Teunissen, Georg Zimmerman (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), Maxim van Gils, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
It’s full of quality, and they are still out in front of the peloton with a lead of around 2min 30sec.
Tour de France LIVE – Teunissen first through intermediate sprint
45km to go: Mike Teunissen is first through the intermediate sprint and picks up a few extra Euros as a result, as well as some pretty meaningless points, given the dominance of Jasper Philipsen in the green jersey. We are nearing the business end of this stage.
Mark Cavendish expects recovery to be ‘number of weeks’ after collarbone surgery
Mark Cavendish expects to need several weeks to get back on the bike after having surgery on his broken right collarbone.
Cavendish went under the knife on Wednesday after being forced out of what is due to be his final Tour de France following a crash on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Manxman said the operation had been more complicated than expected given he had dislodged some metalwork from a previous operation when he fell on his right shoulder during stage eight of the Tour.
“It obviously hasn’t been the ideal way to finish the Tour de France, but that’s part of the beauty and brutality of cycling!” Cavendish said in a social media post from hospital.
Mark Cavendish expects recovery to be ‘number of weeks’ after collarbone surgery
The 38-year-old Manxman was forced out of the Tour de France after crashing on Saturday.
Tour de France LIVE – UAE Emirates working hard to contain breakaway
55km to go: UAE Emirates are working hard to ensure the breakaway is moving not too far up the road, with a gap now between the peloton and the break of about two minutes. UAE want Tadej Pogacar as close as possible to the front of the race when they reach the foot of the Grand Colombier climb, so he can power to the top and win the stage and collect bonus seconds with it. Allowing the break to go and win the stage would mean no bonus seconds for the GC fight behind them.
Tour de France LIVE - Bastille Day action
It’s Bastille Day in France today and there are tricolores dotted along the route.
Tour de France LIVE - breakawy extends towards intermediate sprint
66km to go: In just under 20 klicks or so, we’ve got an intermediate sprint although I’m not sure that will bother many of those in the breakaway. Speaking of the lead group, they’re up above 2 minutes clear now, slowly establishing their lead.
The heads of state in the peloton are conserving their energy for the trials and tribulations ahead. Things won’t really heat up until we get to the Grand Colombier towards the finish. Then it’s Vingegaard vs Pogacar. Who have you got today? Pogacar seems to be the man with the momentum, even if not the maillot jaune at the moment.
Tour de France LIVE - Bernal in trouble?
75km to go: Egan Bernal of Ineos has dropped back among the team cars - this could be a problem for the man currently 29th in the GC.
If you remember, Bernal won the Tour de France in 2019 but suffered an absolute horror crash when hitting a bus while out for a training ride in January 2022. He suffered a fractured vertebra, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella, chest trauma, a punctured lung and several rib fractures.
He’s done superbly to ride professionally again but is still getting his sea legs under him. It’s his first Tour since that crash
Tour de France LIVE - breakaway establishes itself
80km to go: Right, this breakaway have managed to establish themselves and have carved out an advantage of about 1min 40s at this point.
It’s a big old group - listed in full below - and includes Brit Fred Wright. Michal Kwiatkowski of Ineos also in there.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Matej Mohoric, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Adrien Petit, Mike Teunissen, Georg Zimmerman (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), Maxim van Gils, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), Cees Bol, Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments