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

Who will win the Tour de France?

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 – stage 13 LIVE

• Preview: Stage 13 is 138km route to summit finish on Grand Colombier
• 80km to go: 20-man breakaway escapes up the road
• 17km to go: Dwindling breakaway begins Grand Colombier climb
• 4km to go: Solo attacker Kwiatkowski closes in on stage 13 win
• Ineos’s Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13!
• Tadej Pogacar cuts Jonas Vingegaard’s overall lead to nine seconds

[14 July 2023 12:32 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France LIVE – stage-by-stage guide

This is set to be a crucial weekend in this Tour de France, with today’s stage on the Colombier followed by two mountainous stages in the Alps which will come to define this race, and this duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Here’s a deeper look at the rest of the race route:

[14 July 2023 12:16 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Recap: Ion Izagirre solos to victory in explosive Tour de France 12th stage

Ion Izagirre soloed to victory at the end of an explosive stage 12 of the Tour de France to Belleville-en-Beaujolais.

Eleven days after Victor Lafay ended a 15-year wait for a stage win for the Cofidis team, Izagirre doubled up with a perfectly-timed attack from the breakaway.

The Basque rider, 34, went solo during the final climb, still with 31 kilometres remaining of the 169km stage through wine country from Roanne that was again raced at a ferocious pace.

The much-reduced peloton came in more than four minutes after Izagirre, with Jonas Vingegaard retaining his 17-second lead over Tadej Pogacar as the Alps loom this weekend, but only after putting a big effort in over the first part of the stage which could come with a price to pay in the days ahead.

[14 July 2023 12:09 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France LIVE – stage 13 timings

The stage is set to begin at around 12.45pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4-4.30pm BST, depending on just how quickly it is raced.

[14 July 2023 12:02 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France LIVE – a closer look at the Grand Colombier

The Colombier climb that marks the finish of this stage 13 is long (17.4km) and pretty steep too (7.1%), making it an hors categorie ascent – the toughest category by race organisers.

It starts hard and quickly cranks up above 12%, before a brief flatter section in the middle. The relief doesn’t last long, however, and the climb finishes as it started, steeply tilting upwards before cresting the summit. There the relief of the finish line awaits – and the glory of a Tour de France stage victory for the first to the top.

The Col du Grand Colombier is a long, draining climb (letour)

[14 July 2023 11:52 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France LIVE: Stage 13 map and profile

Here’s a closer look at today’s route, as the peloton heads east towards the Jura Mountains and then on to the high Alps over the weekend.

Stage 13 map (letour)

The majority of the day is flat but then comes a rise towards the intermediate sprint point before the drop down to the foot of the Colombier.

Stage 13 profile (letour)

[14 July 2023 11:43 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Stage 13 preview: Summit finish on Grand Colombier

The 2023 Tour de France is reaching its most crucial phase and everything is set up for a showdown in the Alps between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Put simply, the next three days will almost certainly decide the destiny of the yellow jersey.

Yesterday saw an impressive win for Ion Izagirre and a stressful day Vingegaard, who was forced to give chase with little help from his teammates amid a high early pace. He retained the maillot jaune but will have been frustrated to have put so much effort into a stage preceeding such a decisive point in the race.

The first of three back-to-back brutal routes is this stage 13 ride from Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne to the summit of the Grand Colombier. At 138km it is not a long trek, nor is it especially hilly for much of the day: the road is relatively flat for 75km, before an uphill drag to the day’s intermediate sprint point. But then comes a fast descent to the foot of the big climb to the finish, where we can expect fireworks from the main contenders.

Full preview:

[14 July 2023 11:35 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Tour de France LIVE – Stage 13

Hello! Welcome along to live coverage of stage 13 of the Tour de France – a potentially decisive day as the peloton heads towards a summit finish atop the Grand Colombier.