Mads Pedersen has won the thirteenth stage in the Tour de France on Friday. The Dane was the strongest of a leading group of three riders in a hilly stage to Saint-Étienne and recorded his first stage victory in a major cycling round.
Pedersen, 26, was part of an early flight. He left the British Fred Wright and the Canadian Hugo Houle far behind in the sprint.
It was Pedersen’s 24th career win, but only the first in a Grand Tour. Previously, the Trek-Segafredo sprinter won the world title on the road (2019) and Gent-Wevelgem (2020), among other things.
Wout van Aert won the sprint of the peloton at almost six minutes and is therefore even more firmly in the lead in the points classification. There were no shifts in the top of the general classification. Jumbo-Visma leader Jonas Vingegaard kept his yellow jersey without any problems.
On Saturday, another hilly stage is on the program in the Tour. It is about 192.5 kilometers from Saint-Étienne to Mende airport. Shortly before the finish is a difficult climb.
Result stage 13
- 1. Mads Pedersen (Den)
- 2. Fred Wright (GB) zt
- 3. Hugo Houle (Can) zt
- 4. Stefan Küng (Switzerland) +0.30
- 5. Matteo Jorgenson (US) zt
- 6. Filippo Ganna (Ita) zt
- 7. Wout van Aert (Bel) +5.45
- 8. Florian Senechal (Fra) zt
- 9. Luca Mozzato (Ita) zt
- 10. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) zt
No Dutch in leading group of seven
In the thirteenth stage, the peloton covered 192.6 kilometers from Bourg d’Oisans to Saint-Étienne. Along the way, two cols of the third category and a climb of the second category had to be conquered.
After a number of failed escape attempts, world time trial champion Filippo Ganna, Stefan Küng and Matteo Jorgenson managed to get away just before the first climb. The trio was joined moments later by Houle, Pedersen, Wright and Quinn Simmons.
The lead of the seven over the peloton dangled for a long time around 2.5 minutes. On the last climb of the day Simmons dropped out at the front and the gap slowly increased to 3.5 minutes.
Mads Pedersen was part of an early flight of seven riders.
Mads Pedersen was part of an early flight of seven riders. Photo: Getty Images
Team Groenewegen cannot close the gap with the leading group
That was the signal for BikeExchange-Jayco to settle at the front of the pack. Dylan Groenewegen’s team reduced the deficit by one minute, but was unable to close the gap.
With 12 kilometers from the finish, Pedersen attacked at the front and only Wright and Houle were able to follow the pace of the former world champion. The trio struck a gap with the other three escapees and were never caught back.
Pedersen, Wright and Houle were allowed to battle for the victory in the streets of Saint-Étienne. In the sprint Pedersen was by far the strongest.