140KM TO GO
The peloton has sat up, and is now two minutes behind the breakaway group, which has a total of 37 riders in it. But the 20-man chase group featuring Pedersen and Girmay haven’t given up yet, and are 55 seconds behind the leaders, and chasing hard to try and join them.
Jasper Philipsen will be eager for them not to. He was in a reflective mood yesterday, accepting of the fact that he was simply slower than Tim Merlier when it came to the sprints. But if that chasing group doesn’t join them, he stands to start turning his Tour around, potentially putting himself right back in contention to challenge Pedersen for the green jersey.
The peloton is over a minute behind the break now. More attacks have been made out of it though, including a move with Biniam Girmay, which has prompted Mads Pedersen to (yet again) attack himself to try and chase him down. The Girmay group remains closer to the peloton than the break, however, 50 seconds behind the latter and only 20 seconds ahead of the former.
150KM TO GO
Momentum is running out in the peloton. Lidl-Trek are lacking the numbers and support to keep it up, and the gap to the breakaway has grown to 40 seconds. It looks like Lidl might now have given up the ghost, as they’ve stopped chasing.
There are fifteen riders in the break to the peloton, where Pedersen has tried taking things into his own hands by pacing.
Some of the other notable names in this breakaway group, as well as Philipsen and Pidcock – Healy, Vauquelin, Van Gils, Mohoric, Wellens, McNulty, Hagenes, Schmid, Gregoire, Alaphilippe and Jegat.
160KM TO GO
This has turned into a battle between Alpecin and Lidl, as Philipsen’s teammates in the break look to keep this move clear, and Pedersen’s in the peloton try to shut it down. Right now, the gap remains at ten seconds.
The intermediate sprint isn’t yet for the best part of 100km away, but there are no climbs preceding it; so should this break succeed in going clear, the 25 points should be Philipsen’s. Given he only trails Pedersen by 46 points in the points classification, Lidl will not want to let him have them.
Tom Pidcock is the best-place rider on GC in the break. In 10th at 11:49, he’ll be seen by many as a danger, and will likely spark a chase.
For now, though, it’s Lidl-Trek who are trying to shut it down, having missed out on the move. They’re also fearful of Jasper Philipsen, who is also in the break, and is a threat to Pedersen’s green jersey.
170KM TO GO
There’s been a split in the peloton, with a group of over 40 riders going clear from the rest of the peloton. There will be some concern among the GC teams as they try to figure out whether anyone dangerous has managed to make it in to this move. So far we have spotted any.
The move of Kwiatkowski, Asgreen, Vervaeke, Kirsch and Zimmermann is over – they’ve been caught. The waves of attacks have never ceased, but now the new attackers don’t have a group up the road to chase down.
180KM TO GO
The five riders up the road. They’re working hard together, but the action in the peloton is making it difficult for them to build much of an advantage. Having been up the road for over 20km, they only have a lead of ten seconds.
They might have Asgreen up the road already, but EF really want Ben Healy in the break, and the Irishman keeps attacking in his trademark persistent style every opportunity he gets.
He’s had a difficult Tour so far, but is now in the terrain where he can really flourish.
140KM TO GO
15 seconds is the lead for Kwiatkowski, Asgreen, Vervaeke, Kirsch and Zimmermann. This was a good move to get into, as all the attempts to gain a gap from the peloton since have so far been unsuccessful.
The five leaders still are 20 seconds ahead. The attacks keep coming behind, including one from Mads Pedersen and another from Ben Healy. A lot of big names fancy their chances today.
200KM TO GO
Five riders have a gap of 12 seconds, and it’s a strong group – Michał Kwiatkowski, Kasper Asgreen, Louis Vervaeke, Alex Kirsch and Georg Zimmermann. This won’t be the end of the action, and more attacks will come out of the peloton, but if those five riders keep working together and stay out the front of the road they could be a part of whatever definitive breakaway does eventually form.
OFFICIAL START
And they’re off! Ballerini was the first rider to attack, and now another group including Abrahamsen are trying their luck – among the first of what will surely be many attempts.
Just 1km left before the riders leave from Dole and take on the official start. This is going to be an intense beginning, as the fight to get into the break begins.
Two potential winners today, from very different scenarios – could it be Mads Pedersen from a breakaway, digging deep to survive the final climb; or Tadej Pogačar from the peloton on a GC battle?
Although this does look like prime territory for a break to succeed, it’s by no means guaranteed. Much will depend on what kind of mood is in Tadej Pogačar, and before the start today he was non-committal about whether or not he’d put his UAE team to chase the break down.
“That depends on who is in the break.”
Tadej Pogačar, on whether or not he’ll chase down the break
The riders are travelling through the neutralised section, preparing for the official start of the stage, where the fight to get into the break will commence.
This is a curious stage. The climb (and descent) of the category one Ballon d’Alsace near the finish will be decisive, but in order to get into the breakaway to contest for the stage win, riders will need a big rouleur engine, as there are no climbs inside the first 150km of the stage. So it could be that the stage is decided by the climbing prowess of a group of breakaway riders whose speciality is not climbing.
After the crash in yesterday’s finale, there are three non-starters this morning – Jenno Berckmoes, Frits Biesterbos, and, most notably, Fernando Gaviria. The Colombian endured a frustrating Tour, although had been getting closer and closer as the race went on, before reaching the top ten for the first time on stage 12. But now his race ends prematurely, and he’ll be out of action for a little while having broken his collarbone.
After a couple of sprint stages in succession, this one looks like prime territory for a breakaway to be allowed to go clear.
There is plenty of hunger in the peloton to get into the breakaway, especially among the (many) teams who remain winless, as reflected by all the efforts to do so on yesterday’s mostly flat parcours; therefore we’re anticipating a big fight to do so today, on a day that looks very well-suited to the escape artists.
Hello and welcome to stage 13 of the Tour de France!