Cycling: What a performance by Belgian Greg van Avermaet (BMC)! With a crazy final sprint to the finish in Rodez, the 30-year-old secures the day's victory ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) shows another convincing performance and is fourth behind Jan Bakelants (ag2r-La Mondiale).
In muggy and warm conditions of well over 30°C, it was a largely calm day for the peloton of the Tour de France. The 198,5 km from Murez to Rodez were rather flat in the first half, then wavy up to the very difficult, almost 7% steep final climb to the stage finish. Right from the start there were attacks again today and a breakaway group of six quickly formed. Driving at the Front of the pack, about 3 minutes ahead of the peloton.
There, Giant-Alpecin in particular set the pace for most of the time. It was obvious to the German team that they were speculating on a day's win for John Degenkolb, after he had sniffed it several times this year, but never made it all the way to the top. In this constellation, the peloton rolled over the glowing hot asphalt at an average speed of just over 42 km/h. Thomas de Gendt won the only intermediate sprint of the day – Greipel was seventh, Sagan tenth.
As the profile became increasingly wavy, Tinkoff-Saxo also pushed forward to the front of the peloton and supported Giant-Alpecin in the lead work - the lead for the breakaways at the top also shrank immediately. After the first two categorized climbs, the escape group was only a little over 1:30 minutes ahead. Nathas Haas then took the initiative, attacked at the front and drove away solo - but only a few kilometers later the Australian was caught again. As a result, the leading group lost rider after rider until ten kilometers from the line only Kelderman, De Gendt and Gautier were left of the original sextet.
The finish really couldn't have been closer. At the 1km mark, the escape trio still had a lead of almost ten seconds - it shouldn't be enough. In the really steep final, it was Greg van Avermaet who caught up and overtook the escapees with an incredibly long sprint. Peter Sagan was glued to his rear wheel and tried again and again to collect the Belgian, but he didn't succeed. 100m before the finish, the brave breakaways were then caught by the rest of the field. John Degenkolb was able to catch up with van Avermaet and Sagan, but had no chance in the fight for victory and finished fourth. The favourites, i.e. Froome, Quintana, Nibali, van Garderen and Contador crossed the line at the same time. With his second place, Sagan was able to extend his lead in the points classification ahead of Greipel, who fell far behind today.
Final result stage 13 Tour de France 2015
[easy table th=“0″]1., Greg van Avermaet, BMC, 04:43:42
2.,Peter Sagan,Tinkoff Saxo,
3.,Jan Bakelants,ag2r-La Mondiale,00:00:03
4.,John Degenkolb,Giant Alpecin,00:00:07
5th,Paul Martens,LottoNL-Jumbo,
6., Chris Froome, Sky,
7th, Vincenzo Nibali, Astana,
8th Alberto Contador Tinkoff Saxo
9th,Alejandro Valverde,Movistar,
10th, Tejay van Garderen, BMC,
[/easytable] [tab:Preview]Today's stage from Muret to Rodez in south-eastern France is a first, smaller breather for the riders after the grueling mountain stages of the previous days. But even if one or the other driver in the peloton would certainly prefer a completely flat stage at this point in time, as was often the case in previous years, the route planners came up with something different for 2015. The wavy profile, especially in the last third of the stage, will certainly lead to some painful facial expressions in the field again.
The profile is actually made for a strong breakaway group and so we as spectators can probably expect attacks in the field from the first pedal turn. If a group manages to create a large gap early on, it could make it to the finish today, especially since the classification riders today will be less interested in doing follow-up work after the exertions of the previous days. This is more the responsibility of drivers like Sagan or Degenkolb, who will certainly have a chance of winning the day today.
[tab:Cards and Profiles]stage profile
Last 5 kilometers
[tab:TV and streaming]TV
Friday, July 17, 14:15 p.m. – 17:30 p.m
Friday, July 17, 16:05 p.m. – 17:25 p.m
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