2018 Tour de France Stage 13 Results & Recap
Stage 13 of the 2018 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Peter Sagan claimed his third victory at the Tour e France after he bested Alexander Kristoff and Arnaud Démare in Valence. The win extended his lead in the points classification by more than 200 points ahead of Kristoff.
“Today’s stage was a piece of gold for us,” Sagan said. “It’s fantastic to get a third stage win. It was also great to have a stage for everybody to recover in the group today. We had a bit of a relaxed stage. It’s a very nice victory for me at the end. Thanks to all my team-mates. They did again a very good job. I launched my sprint a little bit late in the last 300 metres. I sprinted from behind. My tactic was to stay on Kristoff’s wheel. I positioned myself right behind him 500 metres before the line.”
Geraint Thomas came safely home to retain his lead in the yellow jersey.
“It was a fast day on pretty fast roads,” Thomas said. “We all have enjoyed having an easy day after the Alps. The final was stressful, as always. The boys placed me well in the last kilometres to avoid any mishaps. Mende is a tough finish. I’ve done it a few times already on my career, and it might suit me well as I am quite punchy sometimes… In any case, it is a potential day for breakaways, so there should be a very fast, hard start for everybody. And even if the break goes, it will still be a challenge for the GC riders.
With just 151 riders starting the stage in Bourg d’Oisans, the stage was set for a flat and fast transitional stage to Valence. After the flag dropped marking the official start, a 30 kilometre downhill didn’t make things that easy for a breakaway to form, but eventually, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Scully (Education First). Michael Schär (BMC) and Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis) pulled away.
In the peloton UAE Emirates, Bora Hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ kept the gap close, to a maximum of only two minutes before De Gendt, Scully and Claeys dropped off, leaving Schär to go at it alone with 23 kilometres to go. His solo effort was awarded the combativity prize.
“I gave it all,” he said. “In the morning we had a plan to go in a break. We went as long as possible. I was happy to be at the front with Thomas De Gendt who is a breakaway specialist but it didn’t help us because the bunch didn’t give us any time. It was a maximum of two minutes. I tried it all at the end. I was hoping for a lot of corners in the city. It didn’t work out because there were massive roads towards the city with a lot of head wind.”
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