Dream stage win for Belgian as Froome holds on to yellow
GREG VAN AVERMAET enjoyed a rare victory in claiming the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday with a late burst of speed in an uphill finale.
The Belgian BMC Racing rider powered away from a small group to outsprint Slovakian Peter Sagan, who is himself developing a reputation for failing at the finish.
Van Avermaet, a specialist at one-day races, was third in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix this year, having also collected scores of top-five finishes in the classics yet few big wins in his career.
He was the strongest on Friday, however, as Sagan endured his 15th second-place finish on a Tour de France stage.
“It’s a superb Tour for us,” said Van Avermaet, who secured BMC Racing their third win on this year’s Tour.
“I’m so happy to win a stage, it’s something I have always dreamed of.”
Sagan, who retained the green jersey for the points classification, said: “(It was) My stupid mistake. After I got his wheel, I sat down.”
It was Sagan’s fourth second-place in this year’s Tour de France.
Belgian Jan Bakelants took third for AG2r-La Mondiale as Chris Froome retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey by finishing safely with the other top riders, seven seconds off the pace. He leads American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) by 2:52 and Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Movistar) by 3:09.
A six-man breakaway built a fourminute gap in searing heat as temperatures reached 40 Celsius in southwest France but they were reined in near the end, with the leading three being caught inside the final kilometre.
Van Avermaet started his effort about 300 metres from the line and held off Sagan with Bakelants finishing three seconds behind.
Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2r-La Mondiale), second overall in last year’s Tour, crashed heavily 134 km into the 198.5-km ride from Muret but he got back on his bike despite sustaining deep bruises on his left arm and leg.
Peraud had already dropped out of contention in this Tour after failing to stay with the leading riders in the Pyrenees. 1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 4hrs 43mins 42secs, 2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at same time, 3 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale at 03secs, 4 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin at 07secs, 5 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNLJumbo, 6 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky, 7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team, 8 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo, 9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team, 10 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
37 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Etixx - Quick-Step at 58secs, 45 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky at 1min 16secs, 64 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica GreenEdge at 1min 58secs, 68 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) MTN - Qhubeka at 2mins 19secs, 102 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team at 6mins 07secs, 103 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica GreenEdge at 6mins 50secs, 117 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky at 9mins 43secs, 137 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Team Sky at 11mins 26secs
1 Christopher Froome (Gbr) Team Sky 51hrs 34mins 21secs, 2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team at 2mins 52secs, 3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team at 3mins 09secs, 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 3mins 58secs, 5 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 4mins 03secs, 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo at 4mins 04secs, 7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo at 5mins 32secs, 8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal at 7mins 32secs, 9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 7mins 47secs, 10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing at 8mins 01secs