Kwiatkowski, the old rocker wins again in the Tour de France

Michal Kwiatkowski refuses to go unnoticed in the final stretch of his successful career. Although he has not been very frequent in the top positions lately, he has become a solvent team rider, and from time to time he gives us small glimpses of his class. With hardly any changes in the general classification, Pogacar waited until the last few hundred meters to gain a few seconds.

Pogacar continues to work on its assault on the general classification

The Tour de France finally arrived in the Alps, specifically in the Jura massif, with a short stage, just 137 kilometers between Chatillon sur Chalaronne and the Grand Colombier pass, the only climb of the day, but with a bit of a trap because along the way, complicated terrain, there was more than one climb that could well have shared points.

As in yesterday's stage, the day started at a fast pace with many riders wanting to get into the breakaway of the day as it usually happens in the stages that fall on July 14th, the French national holiday, in which it is always special to win because of the huge amount of public that meets on the road, especially in the case of French cyclists.

Finally, after an hour of racing in which 52 kilometers were covered, a breakaway of 20 riders finally managed to consolidate, again of quality although not as exquisite as yesterday's. The most notable riders among those 20 were Michal Kwiatkowski, Alberto Bettiol, Kasper Asgreen, Matej Mohoric and Pierre Latour.

It was hard for the breakaway to open a gap, with UAE Team Emirates leading the stage fast, looking to generate maximum wear in the face of the final climb. However, the absence of passes and the short length of the route meant that, despite not achieving a big gap, the breakaway held its own, arriving at the foot of the Grand Colobier with enough margin to aspire to victory, always depending on whether they decided to start hostilities earlier or later.

The first to move the breakaway was the Frenchman Quentin Pacher, although he was caught a few kilometers ahead by Michal Kwiatkowski. The Frenchman could barely keep up with the INEOS Grenadiers rider in front with a solid pace that pointed to victory when there were still 11 kilometers to go. In fact, he was gradually increasing his gap on the rest of the adventurers of the day.

Behind there were no movements, with UAE Team Emirates that seemed ready to prepare the attack of Tadej Pogacar but did not quite get there, extending the work of his riders. Great pace of Marc Soler, Majka relieved him giving one more point but without causing the havoc of other occasions. We even saw a strange move, when it was Adam Yates' turn as last man who, instead of pulling, launched a change of pace that was closed by Sepp Kuss with Pogacar on his wheel and Vingegaard behind him.

Gradually the rest would come in and, a controversial topic, it was Pidcock who appeared on Vingegaard's wheel while Carlos Rodriguez was a little cut off in the company of Pello Bilbao. Calm returned to the leading group when, just as Michal Kwiatkowski crossed the finish line victorious, in another of those select victories that he continues to give us from time to time and that reminds us of all the class of this former World Champion, Tadej Pogacar attacked.

There were only 400 m to go but the attack was extremely violent and, as we saw a few days ago in the Puy de Dome, although Vingegaard responded in the first instance the rubber continued to stretch until it broke. However, such was the violence of the change of pace that Pogacar himself suffocated so that in the final meters he could barely maintain the gap, achieving a meager income of 4 seconds to which to add another 4 seconds bonus for third place in the stage.

¡¡Tremendo ATAQUE FINAL de Pogacar!!

No pudo meterle mucho tiempo a Vingegaard, pero vaya fuerza en los metros finales.#TDF2023 | #TourEurosport pic.twitter.com/mzyT8sCa8O

— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) July 14, 2023

It was worse for Carlos Rodríguez, who lost 30 seconds while Thomas Pidcock was the one who entered a few meters behind Vingegaard, something that, as we say, goes against the hierarchy set by the general classification and that, for sure, will be a topic of conversation and controversy in the social networks.

After this first contact, the Tour de France continues through the Jura massif with a stage tomorrow that could not be more classic in the Tour de France, with the ascent to the mythical and hard Joux Plane, with its subsequent descent, as decisive as the ascent for being tremendously technical and fast. This stage will be followed by another tough stage with no less than 5 passes that, without being big cols, form an indigestible chained stage ending in Saint Gervais Mont Blanc and that can be the first match ball of the Tour de France after the accumulated wear of today's and tomorrow's stages.

Stage 13 Classification

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) 3h17’33’’
2. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) +47’’
3. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +50’’
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +54’’
5. Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) +01’03’’
6. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +01’05’’
7. James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) +01’05’’
8. Harold Tejada (Astana) +01’05’’
9. Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +01’14’’
10. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +01’18’’

Clasificación General

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 53h48’50’’
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +09’’
3. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +02’51’’
4. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +04’48’’
5. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +05’03’’
6. Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +05’04’’
7. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +05’25’’
8. Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) +05’35’’
9. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +06’52’’
10. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +07’11’’