Tour de France stage 13 Live - Aftermath to Pedersen's breakaway victory

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 13 of the Tour de France

The last of the riders are signing on in Bourg d'Oisins and we'll be rolling out shortly. 

After two days of high-mountain drama, the Tour exits the Alps now and starts to make its way over to the Pyrenees. The first of these transition stages takes us to the city of Saint-Etienne, where the sprinters will be eyeing success after a week of suffering so far.

However, it won't be easy for them. There are no big climbs but the terrain is rugged and they'll still accrue nearly 2000 metres of elevation. That will give hope to the breakaway men, and it remains to be seen whether the sprinters' teams can keep things under control. 

Even if they do, there's plenty of uphill in the final 50km, where the more versatile riders could potentially look to ride the pure sprinters out of contention. It's all to play for. 

We're on the move. The riders are rolling through the neutral zone and the stage will be properly underway in around 15 minutes.

Before we get going, why not catch up on yesterday's action. Report, results, photos from another brilliant stage in the Alps.

It's another hot day out there. Here are the yellow and green jerseys, Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert, wearing ice vests on the podium a little earlier.

Just a few hundred metres to kilometre zero, so we'll soon be off and we should see a fair fight for the breakaway.

We're off!

Christian Prudhomme rises from the sunroof, waves his flag, and we are underway

Mads Pedersen kicks things off but pretty much every one else accelerates too

Nils Politt is the next to try and force the issue.

Ineos have sent Filippo Ganna and Luke Rowe up the road as a group of 15 goes clear.

Things come back together and settle down for a moment.

Pedersen goes again.

Taco van der Hoorn gives it a nudge now but nothing's going clear.

After a kew kilometres on the flat, we're now zipping downhill on a very gentle descent. It's hard to make a difference at these speeds. 

Stefan Kung eases clear, as if by accident. 

Kung eases up and Stan Dewulf is the next to try. 

More accelerations on this downhill section but nothing sticking.

Kamil Gradek kicks off the next wave.

Politt joins what's now a five-man move but there are more accelerations behind.

Politt and Gradek have Taco van der Hoorn, Mathis Louvel, and Jeremy Lecoq for company. Dewulf tried to get across but failed. Trek then tried to counter but also failed, and this quintet is starting to move clear. 

Peter Sagan attacks from behind now. He has Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg on his wheel.

The duo get across but they drag the rest of the bunch closer. 

170.5km to go

And it's all back together again after 22km.

Interesting to see Van Rensburg give it a nudge. He's a lead-out man for Caleb Ewan at Lotto Soudal. If he was in a break then Lotto wouldn't chase in the peloton. Likewise, Jasper Philipsen's Alpecin-Fenix had someone marking that last move. Chances of a bunch sprint look increasingly unlikely.

And now Bora's sprinter, Danny van Poppel, goes up the road with Van der Hoorn. Trek, once again, are chasing. 

We'll soon be hitting the first of the day's categorised climbs, the Côte de Brié, which is 2.4km at 6.9%

Three more join this Van Poppel/Van der Hoorn move and this looks more promising...

The peloton slows up, and the five riders move clear. Pedersen is in there for Trek. There's a counter-attack from EF but he's the only one at the moment.

Pierre-Luc Perichon and Luca Mozzato are the other members of this nascent breakaway. They have 12 seconds in hand as they come to the end of this early downhill section. 

164.5km to go

They start the climb with a lead of 15 seconds, but this terrain will be seen by some as a launchpad to get across.

Van der Hoorn dropped from the break as Pedersen forces the pace. Van Poppel goes pop too. 

Perichon attacks as the peloton comes back to the rest of the break. It's Ganna on the front of the bunch and he breezes up past Perichon now.

Sagan dropped out the back of the bunch.

Huge turn from Ganna on this climb and he's really stretching things out here. Kung and Cattaneo follow. 

Cattaneo can't handle it and it's only Kung and one rider from Movistar now who can match the world time trial champion.

It's Matteo Jorgenson for Movistar.

162km to go

Kung gasps for air as Ganna takes this effort all the way to the top of the cat-3 climb. The trio have a lead of around 10 seconds 

Fabio Jakobsen dropped! The Dutch sprinter is in a sizeable group off the back of the bunch. He should get back in but that's not a great sign.

We have a big chase group now looking to get over to the front three.

BikeExchange sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is also off the back in a different group with, interestingly, Primoz Roglic.

Politt and Pedersen won't take no for an answer today. They couldn't follow Ganna on the climb but they're in a 15-man counter attack now. 

Here are the riders in the counter-attack

Soler, Konrad, Politt, Cattaneo, Honore, Perichon, Caruso, Wright, Hamilton, Leknessund, Bettiol, Kron, Pedersen, Mollema, Boasson Hagen, Houle, Neilands, Schultz, Mozzato.

Jumbo-Visma are trying to shut the peloton down now. Alpecin-Fenix have missed this, though.

Another short descent now and Kung, Ganna, and Jorgenson lead by 15 seconds, with the peloton at 45 seconds.

Alpecin want to chase this down. They have four riders on the front of the bunch.

Alpecin are making inroads. They're 15 seconds behind the counter-attack now and 36 seconds behind the leading trio. 

It's Philipsen smashing his way across the last part of the gap to the counter. That's Alpecin's own sprinter doing the work.

Split in the peloton. The pressure has caused a sizeable cut in the middle of the bunch here.

The front of the bunch is up with that initial counter-attack, and they're just 21 seconds down on the three leaders now as we head along the river in Grenoble.

Pedersen at it again. He gets Quinn Simmons to lead him out for another attempt to get across to the break.

The bunch is back together after that split.

Actually, the Jakobsen/Sagan group is still off the back.

A rider apiece from Bahrain and Israel have gone over to Pedersen, but they're still a fair way off the front three.

Owain Doull (EF) sets off in pursuit as the peloton refuses to calm down.

Simmons is still the driving force in the counter attack, with Pedersen there, plus Guillaume Boivin (Israel) and Fred Wright (Bahrain). They're 10 seconds down now.

The leading trio are happy to wait up now to allow this group to join forces with them. And the junction is made after 51 frantic kilometres of racing.

Doull is chasing at 35 seconds but he's in no man's land and he's not going to get across the way the guys up front are turning already.

The peloton looks to be easing up, slipping back to 56 seconds.

The Sagan and Jakobsen group stitches back onto the bunch, so the peloton is as one again, a minute behind a seven-man breakaway. It's almost sorted. Almost.

Alpecin put a man on the front of the peloton. Really.

And now Lotto Soudal put Philippe Gilbert up there.

Both teams have no representation in the break. This doesn't look a chase so maybe it's about keeping a tight leash for the whole day. That's a big ask, too. 

As his Ineos teammates stop for a nature break, Luke Rowe pulls up alongside Gilbert and, mouth full of ricecake, asks him "Do you think you can catch that?"

That's the big question here

Doull calls off his effort as the break move 1:30 clear.

So, this is the breakaway of the day

Mads Pedersen, Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo)

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)

Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ)

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar)

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious)

Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) 

Puncture for Jorgenson. That's not ideal.

On this long flat stretch the breakaway move out to 2:20. Jorgenson is chasing at 20 seconds.

121.5km to go

Jorgenson gets back in but the peloton are still riding hard, bringing the gap down to 1:40. 

It's still Lotto and Alpecin doing the controlling. They're keeping it close for now but will probably need some help as the day goes on. That's one reason Alpecin dragged it back earlier. So many other teams - including Lotto - had representation, so they were the only ones who'd really chase. Now they have Lotto on board and they will hope for assistance from BikeExchange (Groenewegen and Matthews) and perhaps Jumbo-Visma (Van Aert) later on. 

Here's a shot of the break

119km to go

After 73 fast kilometres, the breakaway reach the second climb of the day, the Col de Parménie - 5.1km at 6.6% - with a lead of 1:25. 

Simmons sets the tempo on the climb as they find more ground up front.

Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) was a non-starter today, the sixth rider to pull out with COVID-19. None of those cases were uncovered by rest-day testing, the results of which were all clear on Monday. It was a surprise, and for some it was scarcely believable. Like for this association of sports doctors in Belgium, who've come out with allegations effectively amounting to a cover-up from race organiser ASO.

Tour de France COVID-19 tests not carried out properly, alleges Belgian medical body

-112.5km to go

Pedersen leads the break over the top of the climb. The peloton follows at 2:35. 

A whiff of crosswinds here as a couple of groups get snipped off the back of the bunch on an exposed stretch of road. 

Luke Rowe suddenly barges through with the Ineos leaders in tow. It's tense out there.

100km to go

92.6km ridden and the pace is still high, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto Soudal still leading a nervy peloton just 1:45 behind our seven-rider breakaway.

Jakobsen is among those dropped off the back of the bunch. We're heading out into another exposed section now.

The front of the peloton is still well bunched but the GC riders are up there now being minded by their henchmen. It doesn't look like the conditions will be right for echelons today but everyone's looking to stay safe in case.

Jakobsen is at the back of the race and teammates are dropping back to him. Not sure if there's a bigger issue here.

The pace in the peloton has seen the gap to the break drop to 1:20.

It's sad to leave the Alps behind, they've served up some great racing this year (Team Alps, by the way, Pyrenees are definitely second-best). Here's Alasdair Fotheringham with analysis of that dramatic day to the Col du Granon, the follow-up on Alpe d'Huez, and what it all means for the rest of the Tour.

Analysis: Tour de France far from settled as Pogačar revives his challenge

Intermediate sprint coming up in a kilometre's time. Jakobsen is back in the bunch now. 

Pedersen leads the break over the intermediate sprint. Just over a minute later, Van Aert helps himself to a few more points from the bunch. The green jersey is so so secure on his shoulders. 

We're back on another exposed section of road and the bunch stretches out once more. 

It's splitting!

Some riders are grabbing musettes at the back, Van Aert included, and they're chopped off the back.

The bunch has split in three!

It's not lighting up at the front of the bunch, and as we turn off that road to take on a small climb, things could well come back together.

A strange one, that. No one was really trying to split it into echelons but a big group got cut off the back and there was a smaller group in between. It's coming back now.

Gilbert is setting a brisk tempo on this uncategorised climb, but the breakaway are starting to really push on. They move back out to two minutes. 

Crash! Ewan is down

The Australian slides out on a left-hand bend. He's down and clutching his knee. 

Nightmare for Ewan. This is day done, if not Tour done. He tells his teammates to leave him and get on without him

Lotto just misjudged that corner as a team. One rider properly overshoots, Ewan overlaps a wheel between teammates and goes down hard. He's sat on the plastic road barriers at the moment.

Ewan gets back on his bike. He's going to give it a go but he's clutching his knee still.

Blood trickles down Ewan's knee but he remains in the race for now. He has three teammates up the road trying to get back to the peloton.

This is pivotal for the outcome of today's stage. Lotto are obviously not going to be chasing anymore. Not unless Ewan does get back in and recovers. It's a boost for the breakaway's hopes. 

Lotto have eased off, but Alpecin haven't, and they've found support now from QuickStep, who've been anonymous all day but suddenly start to contribute.

Alpecin are sort of helping Ewan, who has been behind their team car for a good few kilometres. The team director is getting a telling off from the race officials now, and Ewan finally spits out in front. The Lotto car passes and offers a thumbs up to the Alpecin car.

Ewan is a minute down and he's in the proper convoy of team cars now. He's still on his own. 

60km to go

The breakaway are still working well together and ticking along at 65kph on this gentle downhill. They have 2:10 in hand and, such is the quality of this group, they're in with a shout.

We're coming towards the day's key climb. It's the cat-3 Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, which is 6.6km at 4.5%. 

The sprinters' teams need to ride hard to keep the break close, but not so hard as to drop their sprinters. It's a difficult balancing act on a parcours like today's.

Ewan is still chasing at 45 seconds. He has just made contact with a group that got split off after that crash, so he's linking back up with teammates now. 

The Ewan group is 25 seconds down on the bunch and they could really do with making contact before the climb.

50km to go

The breakaway hit the Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal climb with a lead of 2:07.

A reminder of our breakaway. It's a strong one.

Mads Pedersen, Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo)

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)

Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ)

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar)

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious)

Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) 

Alpecin lead the peloton onto the climb. Van Aert is up there in second wheel as Jumbo come to the fore. Ineos are up there as well. QuickStep have slipped away.

Ewan is done

After chasing back to within 20 seconds, the climb bites and the Australian sprinter is immediately in trouble. He's dropped from that chase group and it's clear he's got nothing left for today now.

Ewan's cursed 2022 continues. He said he had the 'Giro from hell', and this Tour is turning out even worse.

Jakobsen is starting to dangle now. 

Alpecin still force the pace through Dillier. Their sprinter Philipsen is still in this bunch. 

Simmons is dropping from the break on an exposed section half-way up this climb. He's done a lot of work for Pedersen, including firing him over to the break in the first place. 

Change in the bunch! Dillier peels off, so no sprint team on the front. Instead it's the GC teams of Jumbo, Ineos, and UAE.

They're slowing up. Jumbo have Van Aert but no one is interested in continuing to chase this breakaway down.

46km to go

The pace has been eased significantly and the gap goes out to 2:45, with the breakaway 1600 metres from the top of the climb. There is a bit of descent, but then a significant uphill haul towards Saint-Etienne a bit later on. There's still time for a late chase but the breakaway will be starting to get very excited here.

44km to go

Pedersen leads the breakaway - now without Simmons - over the top of the Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal with a lead of 3:30.

The question now is whether anyone bothers to chase. Lotto's sprinter is gone, Alpecin and QuickStep had to back off on that climb and there are more hills coming up. You'd only really be looking at the climbier sprinters like Michael Matthews, but we've seen nothing of his BikeExchange team all day.

As I write that, so very obviously and predictably, BikeExchange appear at the head of the bunch en masse. 

Groenewegen is up near the front of this BikeExchange train. He's looking strong and could be in with a shout, but BikeExchange also have Matthews who would survive any hills and is the obvious back-up. 

Too little too late from BikeExchange? 

Why did they wait for so long when Alpecin stopped working on that climb? The ensuing lull gave the breakaway an extra minute. They now have to shut down 3:30 on six super strong riders in 40km. 

Jakobsen was dropped by the BikeExchange tempo over the top of the climb. 

Here was Ewan after his crash a little earlier

Luke Rowe, adrenaline pumping after almost getting a musette to the face from his own soigneur, remonstrates with the TV motorbike ahead of the bunch. He wants it further away so it offers no aerodynamic advantage. That's because his teammate Ganna is up the road and in the mix for stage victory today.

35km to go

A fast downhill section now and BikeExchange will have a harder time to take back time here but they've done a good job so far, reducing it to 2:35. 

BikeExchange are down to three riders, and they almost lose one when Grondahl Jansen almost loses it on a right-hand bend downhill. Sketchy stuff.

Another near miss from BikeExchange on the bottom part of this descent. A major wobble for Jack Bauer on the front. Heart in mouth moments!

25km to go

Into the final 25 we go. The gap is down to 2:30 so BikeExchange have taken out a minute in the pace of around 15km. But that includes a descent. They've now got an uphill drag towards Saint-Etienne. Still, it will take something special to bring these riders back. 

The breakaway don't have enough time to start playing games here. They have to work together for a good while yet before turning things tactical. 

Mechanical for Enric Mas, Movistar's GC leader.

The Spaniard is a fair way off the back as he gets going. He had a terrible day on Col du Granon but was among the best on Alpe d'Huez and sits 9th overall 

17km to go

BikeExchange are losing firepower and thy've still 2:17 off the front of the race. It's pretty much game over.

Mas gets back onto the back of the bunch.

BikeExchange are down to two riders on the front and they're looking around a little desperately. The team still have resources, but it's their sprinters and the lead-out man. 

15km to go

15 to go now and the gap is holding steady at 2:17. We still have more time on this false flat drag, which tops out 7.5km from the line.

Matthews hits the front for BikeExchange! He's sacrificing himself for Groenewegen now. But it's a lost cause, surely.

Matthews' pull lasts around 20 seconds before he pulls aside and shakes his head. That's that. It's a breakaway day, for sure.

Pedersen attacks!

The news filters through to the breakaway and they can now start playing those games. After three hours of solid collaboration, Pedersen rips up the alliance and kicks off the hostilities. 

12km to go was where Pedersen made his move and Wright and Houle show great legs to get across. 

That leaves Kung, Ganna, and Jorgenson behind as the break splits in two under the first attack.

They're on a flatter section here but the top section of this uncategorised climb does ramp up a fair bit, before a dip down then a drag up to the line. 

10km to go

10,000 metres left and Pedersen, Houle, and Wright have 15 seconds in hand over Ganna, Kung, and Jorgenson.

Incidentally, or perhaps not, the front three were the latecomers to today's breakaway, while the three left behind were the OGs, the ones who originally formed it. 

This could be a stunning ride from Pedersen. He made so many attempts to get into today's break, and presumably wasted a lot of energy in the process. But that attack was very strong, and he's the fastest finisher of this entire break. 

Wright, meanwhile, has been in two breaks so far at this Tour, and came close on both occasions. You sense the young Brit is learning from each experience - will it be third time lucky?

As for Houle, well, he attacks now with 9km to go!

No daylight for Houle as Pedersen reacts very calmly indeed.

The gap is 20 seconds now for this trio

Houle tried it there on an incline. He's the strongest climber of this group, an underrated domestique for the hills. He's also the weakest sprinter of this trio so needs to get away alone.

7.5km to go

They crest that incline and it now gets a little faster on the run-in. 22 seconds is the gap and it looks like the winner will come from this trio!

Pedersen is the fastest in this trio but don't underestimate Wright, a former track rider who's getting better and better.

25 seconds for them with 6km to go.

The front three are working together for now. 

5km to go

It's faultless collaboration under the 5km to go banner, as they push Ganna, Kung, Jorgenson back to 27 seconds. 

Houle is still happy to rotate for now. You sense Pedersen will be perfectly happy with this at the moment. What will Wright do? He can sprint but will he fire off a bullet before that?

3km to go

He fires a bullet!!

Big acceleration from Wright but Pedersen again is all over it. Houle is gapped but fights with his bike and gets back on.

Final 2km now and they start to ease and look around

The gap is 35 seconds to the chasers.

Houle leads the way, Wright is say behind Pedersen, who's the big favourite on current showing.

Houle is the sacrificial lamb, on the front under the flamme rouge.

Into the final kilometre and this will be decided in a three-up sprint 

Houle leads still. Lots of looking around. 600m to go

Pedersen still second wheel.

Gentle left-hander and it winds up

Pedersen goes with 250m to go!

He gets well out in front

And wins it!

Wright can't match the former world champion and settles for second, Houle is third. 

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) wins stage 13 of the Tour de France

Kung, Ganna, and Jorgenson cross the line half a minute down.

What a sprint from Pedersen, who ripped away boldly with 250 metres to go and just sailed away from the other two. 

What a ride as well. He was the day's first attacker and must have tried six times to get in the break. He missed the move when it first went but was propelled across later by Quinn Simmons (who is owed a beer tonight). You might have thought his legs would be sapped by his earlier efforts but his superiority was apparent when he ripped the break apart with 12km to go. When the likes of Ganna and Kung can do nothing, it's a strong attack. 

When he shut down attacks from Wright and Houle like the swatting of a fly, the writing was on the wall, and he finished it off to take the first Tour de France stage win of his career.

Van Aert leads the peloton home 5:47 down on the winner. No GC differences today.

Results

Let's hear from the winner

"It's incredible to finally take a win [at the Tour]. I knew the shape was really good. I definitely missed out on some opportunities in the first week. In the last two weeks there are not a lot of chances for guys like me so to take the chance today and get the reward is really nice, not just for me but the whole team. We came here with riders only for stage wins and now we have one, so it's a big relief. 

"For a long time I thought it was a mistake to be in the break, because we only had two minutes, but in the end it paid off. Today it was super hard for everyone. Everyone was really on the limit. 

"I really didn't want to be at the finish with six guys, because that's too many guys too control. I tried to attack and luckily it split the break, there were only three and that's a lot easier to control. From 10km to 5km it was about making the gap as big as possible so that we had time to slow down and gamble a bit in the last few kilometres. Luckily it paid off for me."

Here's reaction from Fred Wright, second on the stage

"I was trying to get Mads to do some of work at the end, but it's hard, man. I just didn't quite have it to go over that kicker. Maybe 1km before that, I thought 'ok I can go', but Hugo tried it basically and all I could do was hold the wheel. I was lucky I didn't get dropped actually. 

"In the sprint I wanted to surprise him, make him think, I don't know to be honest. I was just going to try and surprise him but yeah. 

"I'm going to keep trying but there a more mountain stages coming up, so we'll see."

You can find our report, with full results, and a photo gallery all here.

Caleb Ewan says he hasn't broken any bones but warns he'll need to cool down and perhaps even wait until tomorrow morning to understand the full extent of his crash and injuries. 

"I felt really good, actually - that's we committed to controlling break, who never got too far ahead. Then yeah, I dunno what happened on that corner. They just slammed on [the brakes] in the middle of the corner, I had nowhere to go but into the back of the guy in front of me," said the Australian.

"Once I went down, I didn't feel as good anymore. I did a big chase to get back on but start of climb they were going quite hard, so had nothing left really."

Another day in yellow for Vingegaard. It wasn't the easiest of days - hot, fast, and with a whiff of wind - but a day off as far as GC hostilities were concerned.

Tomorrow we have a tough stage to Mende, hillier than this and with a really nasty finish up on the Montée Jalabert. It's breakaway terrain, but the steepness of that short final climb will inspire some GC accelerations as well. 

We'll be back tomorrow with full live coverage of that one, and we'll have all the latest news and reaction from our team on the ground in Saint-Etienne for you on Cyclingnews shortly.

A reminder that report, results, and photos from today's stage can be found here, and I'll bid you farewell and and a bon weekend.