Jasper Philipsen Pushes to Victory at Stage 13 of the 2024 Tour de France before the Race Soon Enters the Pyrenees

 

Stage 13 of the 2024 Tour de France would be another flat, fast day before the riders enter the mountains on Stage 14.

In the early kilometers, a large break group made up of 21 riders went off the front of the peloton. This group presented a threat to the peloton, filled with top riders which included 7 former stage winners; Rui Costa (EF Education - EasyPost) who had won 3 TdF stages in his career, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) also with 3, Magnus Cort (EF Education - EasyPost) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) with 2, and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and Hugo Houle (Israel - Premier Tech) all with one for a total of 13.

Magnus Cort, Julien Bernard (Lidl Trek), Grégoire Romain (Groupama-FDJ), and Michał Kwiatkowski would put in an attack under 100 km to go as they neared the intermediate sprint in Nogaro. Racing into the small commune in the Gers department, Romain pushed off the 

The breakaway was caught in the closing kilometers, but Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies) made a break with 15 km to go in a final attempt to upsest the expectation of the sprint finishing in Pau.

While adding a layer of excitement to the finish, but 5 km, the peloton was back together and a sprint finish was in the cards Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty) was set up in a great position, supported by his team, with 4 km to go. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education–EasyPost) was dropped from the peloton with 2.5 km to go.

2 km to go, Girmay was on the third wheel, continuing good positioning with support from his teammates. Interestingly Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wearing the Maillot Jaune was set up in position to attempt a stage victory in the final 1.5 km. 400 meters later with 1.1 km to go, the riders saw a sharp left turn, but the peloton handled it smoothly. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) began to move up, while as the lead outs got more hectic in the final kilometer, Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) got caught up in a crash with 700 km to go.

On the flat, straight final 300 km, Girmay stayed in the saddle, but was affected by the crash in the final km. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went off the front, with Wout van Aert in chase moving up by the second. Philipsen ultimately was able to hold off the progress of van Aert on his back wheel to capture victory on Stage 13 of the 2024 Tour de France. Pascal Ackermann (Isreal-Premier Tech) put in a final surge which did not threaten Philipsen or van Aert, but clinched him third place on the stage.

Magnus Cort was voted Most Combative Rider on the day. Tadej Pogačar will remain in the Maillot Jaune, while also leading the King of the Mountains classification, and Biniam Girmay in the Green Jersey as points classification leader going into Stage 14. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) will retain his lead as the Best Young Rider as well.

Stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France will feature a shorter, but more mountainous, route from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan/Pla d'Adet covering 151.9 km.