Tour de France stage 13 Live – Last chance for the sprinters and baroudeur before the

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

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.

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

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

40km to go

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

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.

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

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

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.  

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.

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

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

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.  

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

What a stage! What a race! 

58km to go

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

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

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.   

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.  

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.  

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.

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).

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. 

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 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.  

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.

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.

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

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

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.

This is the view from the roadside.

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

The gap is down to 50 seconds.

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

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

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

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

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 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 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. 

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

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.

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

This was the early echelon chaos.

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.

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.  

Jayco and Ineos are leading the chase of the attacks. 

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

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

Other GC riders are in the peloton and chasing. 

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

They hit exposed roads and the peloton explodes! 

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! 

145km to go

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

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

150km to go

The gap remains at 30 seconds.

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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

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

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

Interestingly Jan Tratnik is there for Visma.  

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

160km to go

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

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

Boom! Victor Campenaerts is the first to 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.  

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

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

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. 

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.

This is the profile of today’s 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. 

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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. 

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

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

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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

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

Primož Roglič abandons the 2024 Tour de France

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.

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. 

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. 

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