Michal Kwiatkowski won the eagerly awaited 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday (07/14/2023) up to the Grand Colombier. Tadej Pogacar’s attack on Jonas Vingegaard came too late, the Dane remains in the yellow jersey with a nine-second lead.
The whole day, from the start in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne to the foot of the Grand Colombier, was marked by the much-awaited big shodwon between the two matadors in the field: defending champion and yellow bearer Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma and his challenger Tadej Pogacar of UAE, who started the 138 kilometer long 13th stage with a deficit of 17 seconds in the overall standings.
UAE does not omit the outliers
A leading group of 16 riders, including the German Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), was able to stay in the front for a long time. But what was striking was Team Emirates’ constant interest in not letting the breakaways go too far. On the one hand, this cost Pogacar’s helpers strength, on the other hand, it showed strength and self-confidence: the pace was kept up to stress Vingegaard and his teammates a little even in the flatter parts.
When the grandiose final climb with an impressive length of a good 17 kilometers began, the leading group began to crumble and Zimmermann also fell behind. However, sometimes three, sometimes four drivers remained in the lead, who held a lead of between three and four minutes for a surprisingly long time.
Kwiatkowski drives off alone
At 11.6 kilometers from the finish, Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) then launched the attack that had it all: very quickly he shook off his three fellow combatants, and the UAE train in front of Pogacar, which was whipping up the pace, and Vingegaard directly behind him, were also able to do it Hardly reduce the gap in the range of a good three minutes.
Strong from Bora-hansgrohe’s point of view: Emanuel Buchmann was still at Jay Hindley’s side until 7.5 kilometers before the end to protect his third place in the overall ranking – only then did the German have to let go.
Three to one for Emirates
As the Stars passed the five kilometer mark, things continued to look good for Kwiatkowski – he was still 2:20 ahead. Behind, UAE looked significantly stronger than Jumbo-Visma: Three Emirates helpers were still at Pogacar’s side, only one from Jumbo was able to assist Vingegaard.
But it was only 400 meters from the goal that Pogacar pulled himself together for the long-awaited attack. Vingegaard immediately countered, losing just four seconds and defending the yellow jersey. Immediately afterwards, Zimmermann also crossed the finish line after a top performance, Hindley extended his lead over the pursuers in third place overall.
Zimmermann satisfied with himself this time
Georg Zimmermann then said at the sports show microphone: “I know the mountain quite well, my tactic was to ride my own pace. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite catch up with Kwiatkowski’s chasing group, but my legs are good, I didn’t make any mistakes and I feel good.”
Five mountains on the 14th stage
After Granc Colombier, recovery is not the order of the day – the 14th stage is also tough. On the 151.8 kilometers on Saturday, the professional cyclists have to have good legs and master five mighty mountains in one up and down. After three climbs of the first category, the arrival on the Col de la Joux Plane awaits with an average gradient of a whopping 8.5 percent.
After that, riders have to be careful as it’s about twelve kilometers downhill towards the finish at Morzine les Portes du Soleil. On the section with more than 4,000 meters of altitude, a breakaway group could have the best cards, Georg Zimmermann might get freedom for it.