Jasper Philipsen adds his second victory in a completely crazy stage

The crosswind and an Adam Yates filtered in the breakaway of the day caused stage 13 of the Tour de France 2024 to be disputed at a frenetic pace with the leaders having to push themselves in person in the echelons that, at times, shattered the peloton into a thousand pieces. All this when the cyclists face two very tough stages through the Pyrenees.

Maximum wear and tear on the eve of the Pyrenean stages of the Tour de France 2024

As spectacular as unexpected was the show we could enjoy in a stage, supposedly inconsequential, when the peloton is about to face the two decisive stages in the Pyrenees over the weekend.

But the strong prevailing wind and a terrain, despite being mostly flat, with complicated roads and continuous ramps, in a 165-kilometer stage that made up stage 13 of the Tour de France 2024, between Agen and Pau, meant that a monumental battle broke out and the day unfolded at a crazy pace.

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However, at the beginning of the stage, the news of the day was Primoz Roglic's abandonment after his fall in yesterday's stage. Something that was practically taken for granted when seeing the conditions in which he arrived at the finish line, barely following the pace set by his teammates. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe reported that the Slovenian did not suffer any fractures but the numerous abrasions and the beating from the falls made it preferable for him to abandon to think about other races.

Stage 13 of the Tour de France 2024 started with numerous attacks and quickly a group of 23 cyclists was formed in which Adam Yates was filtered along with other renowned cyclists such as Kwiatowski, Skujins, Mohoric, Van der Poel, Lazkano, Cort Nielsen, and an omnipresent Abrahamsen. The presence of Adam Yates, situated 7 minutes behind in the general classification, means that Visma-Lease a Bike has to work to prevent the British rider from getting back into the top positions. Without a doubt, an interesting tactical move by UAE Team Emirates to generate wear and tear in their rival with an eye on the two upcoming stages.

But UAE Team Emirates did not count on the very strong wind prevailing during the day that, throughout the day, blew in the most damaging way, favoring a favorable crosswind so, at one point, Visma-Lease a Bike thought that the best defense was a good attack and decided to accelerate the pace and split the peloton into a thousand pieces.

The main victim of this first onslaught was Juan Ayuso, who was already cutting himself off due to the strong pace set from the beginning and about whom information had appeared during the morning confirming that he was suffering from covid. The echelons were the final blow for the cyclist from Alicante who also took the path of retirement.

A split in which the main victims were the INEOS Grenadiers who had to work to close the gap. After the calm returned, the situation remained the same, with the breakaway still making progress and, again, pursuit and very high speed to not let a dangerous rival like Adam Yates go, which meant that they did not enjoy much more than a minute's advantage.

At 60 km from the finish line, the road turned again and the peloton suffered the crosswind again, and once again, Visma-Lease a Bike accelerated the pace, although this time, UAE Team Emirates entered the game and doubled the pace, causing the race to explode again. This was the final blow for the breakaway, which gradually was being caught except for a group of 4, formed by Kwiatowski, Julien Bernard, Cees Bol, and Magnus Cort Nielsen who had anticipated trying to find their opportunity by shaking off the company of Adam Yates. But they would end up falling in the final section, more hilly and where the only two categorized climbs of the day were concentrated.

After their capture, it was Richard Carapaz who tried to make a move, although without much success due to the unleashed speed of the peloton. Just like the next one to try, Jasper Stuyven.

Thus, they arrived in the streets of Pau with a finish that would once again be a sprint, this time in a very reduced group. Intermarché-Wanty entered the last kilometer perfectly organized, carrying Biniam Girmay in the saddle, but inexplicably, they found themselves without legs when Laporte appeared to launch Wout van Aert. The Belgian started his sprint from far away and was quickly overtaken by a Jasper Philipsen who had to fend for himself without any teammates.

The sprinter from Alpecin-Deceuninck easily overtook him, but Van Aert still had the strength to hold onto his wheel and, in the last meters, get out of the slipstream and try to overtake. However, he was only missing half a bike length to achieve it, so the winner of the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France 2024 was Jasper Philipsen, who achieved his second victory and closed in on Girmay in the fight for the honorary title of best sprinter of this edition.

Stage 13 Classification

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3h23'09''
2. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +00''
3. Pascal Ackermann (Israel-PremierTech) +00''
4. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) +00''
5. Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
6. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) +00''
7. Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) +00''
8. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +00''
9. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +00''
10. Soren Warenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) +00''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 52h40'58''
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1'06''
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'14''
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4'20''
5. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +4'40''
6. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +5'38''
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +6'59''
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +7'36''
9. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +7'54''
10. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +9'18''