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Jasper Philipsen sprinted to victory on stage 13 of the Tour de France in Pau at the end of a stressful day in which crosswinds threatened to cause chaos.
Philipsen took his second win of this Tour as he held off Wout Van Aert in a reduced sprint after a crash ripped through the pack inside the last kilometre.
Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey with Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard also in the lead group but only after a lengthy battle along the 165km road from Agen – a stage Primoz Roglic did not start as a result of his crash on Thursday.
Van Aert had the position with 200 metres to go after getting a lead-out from Christophe Laporte, but Philipsen had the momentum as he burst through the pack, with Biniam Girmay – the dominant sprinter so far – boxed in to finish fourth after a nasty crash took out Cees Bol and Arnaud De Lie.
“It was full gas from the start, the bunch never slowed down in the crosswinds,” Philipsen said. “My feeling was much better than I had in the previous week so I could start my sprint with confidence and I’m happy nobody could pass.
“I had my best feeling so far in the Tour de France. We didn’t have our best start, feeling-wise and also some bad luck, but I’m happy we could turn it around already with two stage wins, so it’s not a bad Tour.”
On paper this was a stage that might have suited a breakaway so it was no surprise to see 19 riders go up the road early, but the presence in the group of Pogacar’s key wingman Adam Yates – seventh overall at six minutes 59 seconds down – led to a fierce fight to bring them back.
Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike and the Ineos Grenadiers joined some of the sprint teams in trying to close the gap, but such was the strength of the escapees that they struggled to do so until well after the breakaway itself began to split with 95km to go.
More exposed roads with around 60km left saw the wind rip new holes in the peloton – splits that would end the ambitions on the day of the likes of Sir Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen, with only the punchier sprinters able to stay with the leading groups.
Carlos Rodriguez had been among those caught out by the early splits, while Pogacar having a little dig to test his rivals in the wind, but despite all of that there were no changes at the top of the general classification come the end of the day bar the loss of Roglic from fourth place overall.
Pogacar leads by 66 seconds from Evenepoel, with defending champion Vingegaard another eight seconds back before Saturday’s ascent of the Tourmalet.
Roglic finished Thursday’s stage 12 two and a half minutes down on his rivals with a bloodied shoulder after being caught in a crash around 10km from the finish.
Roglic’s sporting director Rolf Aldag said the former Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia champion had not suffered any fractures or a concussion, but the beating his body took in Thursday’s crash combined with a tumble on stage 11 24 hours earlier led to the decision to withdraw.
A statement from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe said: “Primoz Roglic underwent careful examination by our medical team after yesterday’s stage and again this morning. The decision has been taken that he will not start today, to focus on upcoming goals.”
Pogacar’s team-mate Juan Ayuso started Friday’s stage but soon abandoned suffering with Covid, meaning Derek Gee and Felix Gall move into the top 10 overall.
