TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 13 | AGEN > PAU
PAU, France (July 12, 2024) — A superb acceleration on the final straight in Pau from Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) secured his second win of the 2024 Tour de France on Stage 13. Philipsen outsprinted his rivals, beating Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious) to the line at the end of a hectic stage. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the yellow jersey again before the race heads into the Pyrenees this weekend. Pogačar continues to lead by 1’06” from second placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), whilst Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is third at +1’14”.
Adam Yates in the breakaway… an immediate response
After the pre-stage withdrawals of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), there were 160 riders left in the peloton at the start from Agen. Breakaway attempts were launched as soon as kilometre zero was reached, and the initial protagonists were quickly joined by more attackers to form a very strong group of 23 riders in the front. Those escapees were Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), Yates (UAE Emirates), Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) , Bernard, Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious), Geniets, Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel, Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Costa, Powless, Van den Berg (EF Education Easypost), De Lie, Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Lazkano (Movistar), Van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich), Ballerini (Astana), Cort, Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
Juan Ayuso stops
The presence in the front group of Yates, 8th overall and 6’59” behind the Yellow Jersey, prompted Visma-Lease a Bike to pull hard to try to prevent the breakaway from succeeding. Around kilometre 25, the Dutch team doubled their efforts by launching an attack in the crosswinds with five of their riders accelerating. Only Joao Almeida, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) withstood the burst of energy from Jonas Vingegaard’s teammates, who themselves were soon reinforced by Tratnik dropping back from the breakaway. However, Visma’s offensive was canceled at km 33 by Ineos Grenadiers. Having completed the first hour of racing at an average speed of 48.2 km/h, the 21 remaining escapees had only built a 1’00” advantage. In the peloton Soudal-Quick Step, Jayco-AlUla, Ineos Grenadiers, Arkea-B&B Hotels and Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale (without a presence in the breakaway) were all pulling hard, with collaboration from Visma-Lease a Bike. The high pace of the stage soon claimed a victim with the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who is unwell due to Covid-19. The Spaniard was 9th in the general classification at the start of the day.
Four men stay clear
At km 69 Cort attacked and took Kwiatkowski, Bernard and Gregoire with him to form ‘a breakaway from the breakaway’. Passing through Nogaro (IS, km 88.5), the quartet led by Gregoire had a 55” advantage over their former breakaway companions and 1’10” over the main group, which would end up hunting down the 16 pursuers at km 96. The calm would only last until km 104, when Visma-Lease a Bike tried another attack that broke up the peloton. Amongst the men in the top 10 overall, only Adam Yates was relegated to a second group, who nevertheless ended up returning to the safety of the Yellow Jersey group, which would themselves catch the leading quartet at km 115.
Philipsen does it again
There were several waves of attacks towards the end of the stage with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) getting away from the bunch on the Côte de Blachon (Cat. 4, km 127), which Johannessen was the first to arrive at the summit of, before repeating that success on the Côte de Simacourbe (Cat. 4, km 136.3). Carapaz and Johannessen were caught 21 km from the finish and whilst there more attempts to break free from the peloton it was another bunch finish in Pau. The final sprint was somewhat marred by a crash which saw half a dozen riders go down, but Philipsen was not caught up in the trouble and could not be stopped as he flew to the line for another memorable victory.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “My Best Feelings Since the Start of The Tour”
“We pushed hard from the start and we never slowed down. The crosswinds livened up the entire stage. We had two riders in front, Mathieu van der Poel and Axel Laurance. But the peloton continued to chase behind them and I continued to believe in my chances of victory in the sprint. Christophe Laporte took the sprint perfectly to Wout van Aert, but I was on his wheel and I was able to pass him as I wanted. Today I had my best feelings since the start of the Tour. We didn’t start in the best way but we’ve turned things around in our favour. But we always want more. We will see day-by-day how far this will take us. In any case, I’m super happy today.”
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “I Was a Little Bit Boxed In”
“Today we already knew that the wind would affect things and there would be a high pace because the GC guys would hit the front and make the race hard for their rivals. I expected that. When the breakaway went, I thought they might let it go but they rode at a crazy chasing pace instead. The peloton split and luckily I was in a good position. Today was a very hard stage. As for the sprint, I was a little bit boxed in with 450 meters to go. To be honest, I didn’t have good legs. It wasn’t my day. Anyway, it is good I didn’t crash when the sprint got messy.”
Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility): “I Understand Yates’ Teams Tactics”
“We quickly got into a bigger breakaway than I had hoped for and the only bad thing was that Adam Yates from UAE was there and unfortunately he had strong team orders to stay in that group. I tried to talk with him along with everybody else in that group but I also respect him for sitting there. I understand his team’s tactics. I wanted to split that group because I felt he was the one keeping the bunch behind chasing us. Unfortunately, we only got away as a group of four guys and that was not enough to make it to the finish. It must have been insanely hectic behind us and even in the breakaway, when the bunch caught us it was still very hard. Probably one of the hardest days I’ve had this Tour, just in three and a half hours! A short day but a hard one. We try our best and our ultimate goal on the team is to win a stage and today was a good opportunity for us in many ways. We could both be aggressive and in the sprint and we tried everything with what we have.”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “We Had to Take Risks, But It Went Well”
“It was a bit of a madness today, a stage ridden at an average speed of 49 km/h and a chaotic finish. But in the end I finished in front. We had to take risks, but it went well. With the last two stages that we experienced, there was no real transition before approaching the Pyrenees. We will go into it with fatigue in our legs. I’m not worried but I know that tomorrow will be a long route, with a pretty tough finish. So I will try to recover well to be as fresh as possible, then we will see. The race is in the hands of the Visma and UAE teams. For my part, if the legs are there, we’ll see if I can make up time. But the plan is to follow. For the rest we just have to stay focused and patient.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “We Are Growing Stronger and Stronger Every Day”
“I was expecting the stage to heat up after 100 kilometers, but it turned out to be chaotic from the start. We were lucky to have Adam [Yates] at the front, as it enabled us to take a bit of a rest day as a team. Coming into the last few kilometres, my teammates put me in a good position and kept me safe into the finish. I was not planning to contest the sprint, and when I saw how dangerous it was becoming I just took it easy to the line. I like the upcoming stages in the Pyrenees. Ahead of the Tour I didn’t know which specific climbs we were tackling, but now I’ve checked them and it’s all climbs I already know and like. The way we have raced in the last three days is going to affect how these two stages unfold, as we are racing hard every day. Anyway, the most important thing is that our shape is pretty good. It was sad to see Juan Ayuso having to withdraw from the race. He was not feeling well, but luckily everybody in the team is fine – it’s just him who is sick. It is a bit of a blow for us, as we were expecting him to be one of the key guys for the mountains. As a team, I believe we can be strong even with one guy less. Joao [Almeida] and Adam [Yates] are flying in the mountains, Pavel [Sivakov] and Marc [Soler] are performing great on all terrains, and Nils [Politt] and Tim [Wellens] are also very strong. I feel we are growing stronger and stronger every day.”
TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 13 | AGEN > PAU | DAILY STATS
8/10: PHILIPSEN IS ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK’S LEADER
Alpecin-Deceuninck lost two precious helpers yesterday as Søren Kragh Andersen and Jonas Rickaert finished outside of the time limit, they played different cards today, sending their world champions Mathieu van der Poel (Elite) and Axel Laurance (U23) up the road… But it came down to Jasper Philipsen to deliver their 10th stage win in the Tour de France, with no support in the final kilometre. The Belgian sprinter has now claimed 8 stage wins in the Tour (2 in 2022, 4 in 2023 and 2 in 2024). Their other victories were brought by Mathieu van der Poel and Tim Merlier in 2021.
48.821: THE 8TH FASTEST STAGE IN TOUR HISTORY
A huge battle for the break, echelons through the wind and a speedy finale – the pace never dropped today, so much that it becomes the 8th fastest stage ever in Tour history with an average of 48.821km/h! The early attackers were essential to drive the race at such a high speed, as they averaged 50.2km/h over 116 kilometres ahead of the bunch. The 6th and 7th fastest stages were also headed to Pau: 48.932km/h when Patrice Halgand won there in 2002 and 48.927 for Adrie van der Poel in 1988.
1-2: A BELGIAN HABIT
For the 4th year in a row, Belgian riders come 1st and 2nd in a stage of the Tour de France, with Jasper Philipsen getting the better of Wout van Aert in Pau. The pairing also took the spotlight in 2022, with Van Aert winning ahead of Philipsen in Calais, and the two stars finishing the other way around in Carcassonne. And the Tour had started with Yves Lampaert’s victory ahead of Van Aert in the Copenhagen ITT. Last year, it was Jordi Meeus who won ahead of Philipsen in Paris. In 2021, Tim Merlier (in Pontivy) and Van Aert (Paris) won ahead of Philipsen. The first Belgian 1-2 this century was achieved at home, in 2007, when Gert Steegmans outsprinted his leader Tom Boonen in Gent.
7: VAN AERT STILL CHASES VICTORY
Only beaten by Jasper Philipsen in Pau, Wout van Aert finished fo the 25th time in the top-3 of a Tour de France stage (1 less than Pogačar, while Cavendish has 44): 9 wins, 10 places of 2nd and 6 places of 3rd. From Colmar 2019 (2nd behind Sagan) all the way to Rocamadour 2022 (victory in the ITT), he had won 9 stages out of 18 top-3 results. But he’s winless in the last 7 occasions: 4 places of 2nd and 3 places of 3rd.
2: ROGLIČ AND AYUSO DROP
The Tour de France peloton lost two members of the GC Top 10 on Friday, with the withdrawal of Primož Roglič (6th) and the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (9th). This has not happened since the 9th stage of the 2017 Tour de France between Nantua and Chambéry, when Geraint Thomas (2nd) and Richie Porte (5th) both left the Tour injured after crashing.
9: POGAČAR PUNCHES WITH THE SPRINTERS
After a hard fought stage saw Tadej Pogačar get in the mix in the last kilometres, finishing 9th in between established fast men such as Bryan Coquard and Søren Wærenskjold. The Slovenian star had already finished three times in the top 10 of Tour flat stages: – 5th of Castelnau-Magnoac – Cahors, in 2022, when Christophe Laporte made the most of the final lumps – 7th of Lille – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, in 2022, when he attacked on the cobbles – 10th of Libourne – Limoges, in 2023, when a demanding finale favoured Mads Pedersen.
3: CORT SHOWS HIS STRIPES
As he made the break for the first time in the Tour 2024, Magnus Cort took his 3rd combativity award after the stages leading to Sonderborg and Arenberg in 2022. His teammate Jonas Abrahamsen was distinguished twice this year. Among the riders in this year’s peloton, Wout van Aert is the only rider with more combativity awards than Cort, with 5.
