Jasper Philipsen sprinted to victory on stage 13 of the Tour de France in Pau ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider took his second victory of the race in a very chaotic sprint which was disrupted by a high speed crash in the final kilometre. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) was one of several riders to hit the deck along with Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan).
Biniam Girmay managed to get past the crash but was boxed in as the reduced peloton looked to contest the sprint. Once Philipsen went there would be no stopping him.
Van Aert and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) both tried to match Philipsen’s speed, but neither rider was able to get on terms with the Belgian who added a second win to his tally after a series of second placed finishes in the opening week.
Van Aert took another second place and Ackermann grabbed third.
Speaking post-stage, Philipsen said it had been "full gas" from the start.
"There was crosswinds and a big group ahead," he said. "We had two guys in with Mathieu [van der Poel] and Axel Laurence. I thought they would continue until the line but the peloton kept on going.
"I kept on believing because the feeling was good, much better than I had the previous week which meant I could start my sprint with confidence and I'm happy nobody could pass."
"He [Van Aert] was piloted perfectly by Christophe Laporte. I was a bit in the wind so I launched early and I could pass him so I'm really happy with my sprint and the feeling. I had my best feeling so far in the Tour. We didn’t have the best start feeling wise and with some bad luck but maybe you could turn around already with two stage wins and say it’s not a bad Tour."
"We always want more. We just have to go day by day and also enjoy the victory today."
Tadej Pogačar came home in ninth to successfully defend his lead at the top of the general classification over Remco Evenepoel in second. The Slovenian will wear the yellow jersey in the Pyrenees this weekend.
How it happened
There was complete chaos from the moment the flag was dropped by the race director on stage 13 of the Tour de France. The long, relatively flat 163 kilometre run between Agen and Pau took place on wide open and exposed roads meaning that crosswinds were likely to impact proceedings.
Two category four climbs were set to feature in the latter half of the stage, but otherwise it was expected to be one for a breakaway or a potential bunch sprint.
Several early attacks forced splits in the peloton as echelons formed and caught a handful of riders out. A large 22 man breakaway got up the road, but shattered into a series of small groups with one including Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Romain Gregoire (Groupama FDJ) and Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) leading the race for a large part of the day.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) was present in the initial break which sparked pandemonium in the peloton behind. Visma-Lease a Bike drilled the pace on the front of the main field in a bid to reel Yates back in. An attack from Cort then split the breakaway with only Bernard, Kwiatkowski and Gregoire able to follow him.
The peloton was split all over the road due to the crosswinds, but the remnants of the yellow jersey group caught the Cort led breakaway with 47 kilometres left to race. Meanwhile Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) was part of the third group on the road, more than a minute down on the UAE Emirates led yellow jersey group.
With 40 kilometres left to race, Visma-Lease a Bike amassed at the front of the peloton looking to ensure that Jonas Vingegaard was kept safe. Uno-X tried another move with Rasmus Tiller and Jonas Abrahamsen, but it was soon shut down by Matteo Jorgenson for Visma.
Richard Carapaz launched a surprise attack on the Cote de Blanchon, taking Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) with him. The two riders took a lead of 16 seconds into the final 35 kilometres.
Carapaz and Johannessen increased their gap to half a minute on the second categorised climb of the day. The duo were caught at the 21 kilometre to go mark.
A move led by Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) got up the road with 10 kilometres to go, but Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) was straight onto it as several Classics specialists looked to upset the sprinters. The attack was short lived after Wout van Aert and Victor Campenaerts raised the tempo in the peloton.
There was a big crash as the peloton tore into the final kilometre. Several Lotto-Dstny riders hit the deck including Arnaud De Lie. A reduced group looked to contest the stage win, but nobody could match Jasper Philipsen for speed.
Philipsen unleashed a bestial sprint which Wout van Aert attempted to follow. Van Aert, Pascal Ackermann and Biniam Girmay were unable to get on terms with Philipsen as he took his second win of the race.
Results
Tour de France 2024 stage 13: Agen > Pau 165 km
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 03:23:09
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Vsma-Lease a Bike,
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech,
4. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché–Wanty,
5. Nickias Arndt (Ger) Bahrain Victorious,
6. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Lidl-Trek,
7. Clement Russo (Fra) Groupama FDJ,
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis,
9. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates,
10. Soren Waerenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, all at same time
General classification after stage 13
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 49:17:49
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:06
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +4:20
5. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +4:40
6. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +5:38
7. Adam Yates (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates, 6:59
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +7:36
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +7:54
10. Felix Gall (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +9:18
