The 13th stage of the Tour de France 2024 ended with Jasper Philipsen's second stage win of the year. The sprinter from Alpecin-Deceuninck won ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) out of a thinned-out peloton. Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious) was fifth on the day and another German made it into the top 10.
Pascal Ackermann on his third place on the 13th stage
"Unfortunately, I finished third again. I don't know what I could have done better today," said Ackermann at Eurosport after the stage. "If I could choose between five third places and one first place, I would definitely choose first place."
The sprint was once again chaotic. There was a crash in the middle of the peloton on the final kilometre. Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) then launched the sprint with Wout van Aert on his wheel. With 250 metres to go, Philipsen shot past his compatriot, Ackermann was slightly built in, grabbed van Aert's rear wheel, but ultimately didn't have the final speed to pass the two Belgians.
Wind edges on the 13th stage of the Tour de France 2024
Over the previous 165 kilometres, the riders had given each other nothing. The wind already had a massive impact on the race in the early stages. Visma | Lease a Bike took the peloton onto the wind edge, in the meantime a wind relay with Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel rode away from the rest of the peloton, but was caught again. 60 kilometres before the finish, the peloton fell apart again on another wind edge, meaning that numerous riders had already been dropped.
However, there were no shifts in the top 10 of the overall standings ahead of the two Pyrenean stages this weekend. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) confidently defended his yellow jersey. With Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe - after his fall injuries from the previous day) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who finished the Tour during stage 13, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) moved into the top 10.
Tour de France 2024 - Results: the top 10 of the 13th stage
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3:23:09
- Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
- Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Clement Russo (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +0:00
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Sören Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) +0:00
Tour de France 2024: The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 52:40:58
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:06
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:14
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4:20
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:40
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +5:38
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +6:59
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +7:36
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +7:54
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +9:18
How the 13th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
At 13:47, Tour boss Christian Prudhomme opened the race and the attack began immediately. 23 riders initially broke away. Among them were world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), eighth overall.
Visma | Lease a Bike launches wind edge campaign
In the peloton, Team Jayco-AlUla was the main force behind, but Visma | Lease a Bike also took part in the chase and took the peloton by storm a little later on. Led by Wout van Aert, the Dutch riders tore the peloton apart. Nine riders with Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step), but also Pascal Ackermann were in the first echelon. However, as the big favourites for the overall victory had paid attention, Visma | Lease a Bike took them out again after a few kilometres and the rest of the peloton came back in.
Quartet pulls away - van der Poel's group caught
While the peloton remained reasonably calm, Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility) broke away from the breakaway group with 95 kilometres to go. Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) followed the Dane. The chasers of the leading quartet around van der Poel and Yates were swallowed up by the peloton 70 kilometres before the finish. However, the sprinter teams did not allow the quartet at the front a lead of more than 1:30 minutes.
Renewed wind edge in the peloton
60 kilometres before the finish, the wind edges started again. UAE Team Emirates was at the front this time and tattered the peloton into many groups. The explosion of speed in the peloton also meant the end of the breakaway group.
Advances by Carapaz and Stuyven without success
On the climb to the Cote de Blachon (4th category), a leading duo broke away: Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). The two opened up a good 30-second lead over the peloton, where Alpecin-Deceuninck set the pace. However, 20 kilometres before the finish, their attack was also over. A trio then tried it: Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies), Brent van Moer (Lotto-Dstny) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek). While Grellier had to let go, his two escape companions stayed in front a little longer, but were also unable to resist the peloton.
Crash on the last kilometre
This led to a sprint of a thinned-out peloton in Pau. There was a crash in the final kilometre when a rider from Lotto-Dstny collided with a rider from the Arkea-B&B Hotels team who had pulled out. With the exception of Arnaud De Lie, who was held up, the top riders came through and decided the victory amongst themselves. Jasper Philipsen once again proved that he has the greatest top speed. Having already won the 10th stage of the 2024 Tour de France, the 26-year-old celebrated his second stage win on Friday, his eighth overall.
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Girmay with a cushion in the battle for the green jersey
However, as Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) also scored well again in fourth place, the three-time stage winner from Eritrea maintained a good cushion in the battle for the green jersey with an 85-point lead over Philipsen.
This weekend, the men have little to play for in the battle for the points classification - they are off to the Pyrenees. Two mountain finishes await on the Pla d'Adet on Saturday and the Plateau de Beille on Sunday.
