Swiss cyclist Mauro Schmid won the thirteenth stage of the 113th Tour de France, finishing the race in a sprint battle against Colombian Haroldo Tejada.
This stage was the longest in the Tour de France. Schmid and Tejada managed to break away from a group of ten riders when there were 16 kilometers left until the finish. They successfully countered their former breakaway companions to fight for the sprint victory.
Tejada initiated the attack first, but Schmid managed to slow him down and overtake him on the finish line after covering 205 km from Dole in the Jura region to Belfort in the Vosges.
British rider Tom Pidcock finished third, trailing by only two seconds. Thanks to this result, he significantly improved his position in the general classification, moving up from tenth place to fourth. Pidcock is now only 4 minutes and 15 seconds behind the race leader Tadej Pogačar and nine seconds behind Remco Evenepoel, who is on the podium.
The first two-thirds of the race were dedicated to the battle among contenders for the green jersey points in the intermediate sprint. As a result, 57 riders broke away from the peloton, which at one point increased its lead by more than eight minutes.
Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen overtook Category Leader Mathieu van der Poel in the sprint, but still trails the Dutchman by 41 points. It became clear on this stage that Pidcock had much to gain by participating in the breakaway, besides just winning the stage.
The group began to fracture on the Col de Croix climb at 5.1 km, and then accelerated on the Ballon d'Alsace climb of 8.9 km. Pidcock was among the ten riders who crossed the summit ahead when there were 30 km left, although about a dozen other riders were within half a minute.
Schmid launched his attack at the end of the descent, and Tejada was the only one who initially reacted. Both riders cooperated until the last kilometer to ensure one of them won.
The peloton finished 7 minutes and 32 seconds later than the stage winner, allowing Pidcock to advance six places in the general classification, having started the day almost 12 minutes behind Pogačar.
Tadej Pogacar secured a convincing victory in the third stage of the Tour de France, demonstrating mastery in the Pyrenees, which allowed him to reduce his deficit to Jonas Vingegaard and claim the leading yellow jersey.
Current champion Tadej Pogacar won the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday, taking the 'special' yellow jersey from his rival Jonas Vingegaard. Although both athletes had equal time, Pogacar took the lead due to better finishing positions in the first three stages of the race.
The thirty-year-old athlete achieved his 22nd stage victory in the Tour de France and his tenth victory in the Pyrenees. He finished two seconds ahead of the Dane and earned an additional four bonus seconds compared to Vingegaard, thereby eliminating his six-second deficit at the start of the day.
Pogacar noted that winning the yellow jersey is a dream for any cyclist regardless of age. He added that every time he can put it on his shoulders again, it feels special.
In this stage, which was 196 km long, starting in Granollers, Spain, and finishing in Les Angèles in the French Pyrenees, former Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz overtook young French prodigy Paul Seix, finishing third in the same time as Vingegaard. Despite organizers' requests to stay away due to severe forest fires 70 km from the finish, many spectators gathered along the roads in France.
Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel finished eighth with a four-second deficit, maintaining third overall place, but lost 23 seconds relative to the leader. Isaac Del Toro, winner of Sunday's second stage, holds fourth overall place with a 24-second deficit, finishing eighth. Also in the top six leaders are Spanish Juan Ayuso (27 seconds) and Seix (48 seconds).
After Pogacar allowed his teammates from UAE Team Emirates, Del Toro, to win on Mount Monjuic in Barcelona on Sunday, the Spaniard led the team for a decisive sprint to the finish this time. Pogacar made it clear that he aimed for both the stage win and the yellow jersey thanks to the dominant victory.
He explained that he gained extra energy in the finale thanks to Isaac: 'Thanks to Isaac, I got some extra strength in the finale today.' He continued: 'He gave more than one hundred percent in the final climb, and the whole team too. In the middle of the stage, we decided that we could compete for the stage win, and I am very, very happy that we started the Tour this way.'
On a day that looked perfect for an escape, UAE Team Emirates left no chance for anyone else. After 70 km, an eighteen-man breakaway formed, stretching the maximum advantage to three minutes. At that moment, UAE Team Emirates took over the pace. They halved the gap when the breakaway reached the Category 1 climb Col du Toses, 9.3 km long, located just over halfway through the stage. The breakaway reduced to six men at the summit, and 34 km before the finish, the French pair Alex Bodin and Nicolas Prodhomme went off on their own. Prodhomme held on for another 8 km, while Bodin, who had already achieved enough for the mountain points jersey, was caught 12 km from the finish. UAE Team Emirates controlled the race until the last short climb in Les Angèles, and Pogacar completed the job.
