Tour de France LIVE: Tadej Pogacar attacks Jonas Vingegaard as Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13

Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski soloed to the top of the Grand Colombier mountain on the Tour de France and Tadej Pogacar cut a little more time off Jonas Vingegaard’s lead in the fight for the yellow jersey on Friday.

Kwiatkowski, a seasoned veteran with the Ineos Grenadiers team, was part of an early breakaway and went solo about 11 kilometers from the daunting mountaintop finish.

Vingegaard and Pogacar watched each other closely. Well shepherded by his UAE Team Emirates teammates, Pogacar did not attack before the last 500 meters of the 17.4-kilometer-long ascent, yet managed to gain some precious time.

Pogacar crossed the line in third position behind Kwiatkowski and Maxim van Gils, four seconds ahead of Vingegaard. He was awarded a time bonus of four seconds for his third-place finish to cut Vingegaard’s overall lead to just nine seconds ahead of two big mountain stages scheduled in the Alps over the weekend before Monday’s second rest day.

Follow all the latest from today’s stage 13 below.

Tour de France – stage 13 LIVE

• Preview: Stage 13 is 138km route to summit finish on Grand Colombier

• 80km to go: 20-man breakaway escapes up the road

• 17km to go: Dwindling breakaway begins Grand Colombier climb

• 4km to go: Solo attacker Kwiatkowski closes in on stage 13 win

• Ineos’s Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13!

• Tadej Pogacar cuts Jonas Vingegaard’s overall lead to nine seconds

The yellow jersey speaks after stage 13

16:52 , Lawrence Ostlere

Jonas Vingegaard: “My goal today was to keep the yellow jersey, I still have it so I’m happy. I know Pogacar is much more explosive than me. I don’t think the followers always understand our tactics but as long as we get it, it’s OK.”

Tour de France standings after stage 13

16:43 , Lawrence Ostlere

A good day for Tom Pidcock, who clung on to finish fifth and gain significant time against some of his rivals in the top 10 of the general classification. He’s eighth overall going into two tough days in the Alps.

If you click on the ‘stopwatch’ on the infographic above, you’ll be able to see all the latest standings.

Tour de France standings after stage 13

16:34 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here’s how everything is shaping up after stage 13:

Michal Kwiatkowski speaks

16:27 , Lawrence Ostlere

Kwiatkowski is asked, what was your plan today? “We just didn’t want to miss the big breakaway. You never know who will enter that breakaway. Then I found probably the best legs I ever had in my life. I didn’t believe that was possible, but here I am!”

Tour de France result – Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13

16:25 , Lawrence Ostlere

The moment Kwiatkowski sealed victory on stage 13:

Tour de France LIVE – Pogacar outsprints Vingegaard to the line

16:16 , Lawrence Ostlere

Tadej Pogacar storms up the final few hundred metres from Vingegaard who can’t quite keep in touch, and Pogacar takes perhaps four seconds over his rival on the line – plus a four-second time bonus for finishing third on the stage. That 17-second gap in the GC could be down to less than 10 tonight once that’s all confirmed.

Michal Kwiatkowski wins stage 13!

16:14 , Lawrence Ostlere

Kwiatkowski may not have planned to get in to the breakaway today but he’ll be very glad he did. The super domestique is going to clinch the second Tour de France stage of his career!

And Pogacar attacks!!!

Tour de France LIVE – Adam Yates attacks!

16:11 , Lawrence Ostlere

1km to go: Adam Yates has attacked! That was unexpected. Sepp Kuss follows him and so do Pogacar, Vingegaard and Jai Hindley. Tom Pidcock holds on too. Meanwhile up the road, Kwiatkowski is nearly home and dry...

Tour de France LIVE – Pogacar and Vingegaard locked in stalemate

16:08 , Lawrence Ostlere

2km to go: Kwiatkowski is closing in on the summit finish. Is Pogacar loading up for an attack or is the yellow jersey fight heading for a truce today?

Tour de France LIVE – Kwiatkowski closing in on stage 13 win

16:06 , Lawrence Ostlere

4km to go: Michal Kwiatkowski has got over the worst of the steep gradients and this surely is his stage now! He leads the chase trio by one minute and the peloton by two minutes.

Tour de France LIVE – UAE Emirates take stock

16:01 , Lawrence Ostlere

5.5km to go: UAE Emirates have four riders left on the front, including Pogacar, and they all seem to be taking a moment to chat to their team radio – what are they plotting? It seems like they might have given up on catching Kwiatkowski.

Tour de France LIVE – Kwiatkowski remains around 3min clear of peloton

15:58 , Lawrence Ostlere

6.5km to go: So Ineos’s Michael Kwiatkowski remains a minute clear of the chasing trio (that gap is growing) and around three minutes up on the peloton (that gap is shrinking). He has to be the stage-win favourite right now, despite the charge of UAE Emirates. If anything, UAE are keeping a controlled pace, perhaps happy to keep things steady and let Pogacar attack explosively near the top, rather than raising the pace to try to win the stage and gain a few bonus seconds.

Tour de France LIVE – Vingegaard locked on Pogacar’s wheel

15:55 , Lawrence Ostlere

7km to go: The yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard, is stuck to the rear wheel of Tadej Pogacar. He will hope to still be there when this stage comes to an end. Soler moves aside from the nose of the peloton after a big turn, and lets Grossschartner take over.

Tour de France LIVE – UAE Emirates working hard for Pogacar

15:52 , Lawrence Ostlere

9km to go: UAE Emirates continue to drive their way up the Grand Colombier towards this summit finish, giving chase to Kwiatkowski. Marc Soler is working hard to drag Pogacar forwards before handing over to fellow UAE teammates Felix Grossschartner, Mikkel Bjerg, Rafal Majka and Adam Yates.

Tour de France LIVE – Kwiatkowski leads stage 13 solo

15:47 , Lawrence Ostlere

10.5km to go: Ineos Grenadiers’ Michal Kwiatkowski is a super domestique who can do more than just help others, and he has some big wins on his palmares, not least a 2020 Tour de France stage win in the Alps. He has a 30 second lead over the chasing trio (Shaw, Van Gils and Tejada) and 3min 20sec over the peloton, still led by UAE Emirates who are pumping hard to keep in touch.

Tour de France LIVE – Kwiatkowski attacks

15:44 , Lawrence Ostlere

11km to go: Kwiatkowski attacks! He skips past Belgian 23-year-old Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny), 26-year-old Colombian Harold Tejada (Astana) and Britain’s 27-year-old James Shaw (EF Education) and now the experienced rider is now out in front on his own.

Tour de France LIVE – Pacher cracks

15:41 , Lawrence Ostlere

13km to go: So, 4km into this climb and the sole leader, Pacher, has suddenly cracked and fallen back – there probably won’t be a French winner on Bastille Day, then. He’s been overtaken by James Shaw, Maxim van Gils and Harold Tejada take over the race lead as a trio. They are about 3min 30sec ahead of the peloton, which is being led furiously by UAE Emirates and shedding riders left, right and centre.

Tour de France LIVE – Pacher attacks on the front

15:35 , Lawrence Ostlere

14km to go: The breakaway is crumbling on the Colombier but Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) has launched an attack off the front.

Tour de France LIVE – the breakaway begins the Colombier climb

15:29 , Lawrence Ostlere

17km to go: Here we go! The breakaway has begun the brutally steep, long Grand Colombier. This is going to be fascinating. A reminder of exactly what the riders face:

Tour de France LIVE – Caleb Ewan abandons the race

15:23 , Lawrence Ostlere

This is sad news: Australian sprint star Caleb Ewan has abandoned the race. He was spotted struggling to keep in touch with the peloton and he’s now stepped off his bike and got into the Lotto-Dstny team car. Presumably he was feeling the effects of an illness of some kind.

Ewan finished in the top three on a couple of different stages, memorably being pipped on the line by Jasper Philipsen in Nogano, but it wasn’t to be and his drought without a Tour de France stage win will extend to four years.

Tour de France LIVE – Latour dropped by breakaway

15:18 , Lawrence Ostlere

24km to go: Pierre Latour has been dropped from the breakaway as the escapees continue to hold a high pace. They are managing to grow their lead over the peloton, which is now at around four minutes. That still doesn’t seem like enough of an advantage to stop Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard from coming through and winning the stage.

Tour de France LIVE – Grand Colombier climb

15:07 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here’s a lovely visualisation of the iconic Grand Colombier climb, courtesy of Strava:

Tour de France LIVE – breakaway remain out in front

14:59 , Lawrence Ostlere

40km to go: Here’s a reminder of the breakawayers, which has whittled down to 18:

Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Matej Mohoric, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Mike Teunissen, Georg Zimmerman (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), Maxim van Gils, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).

It’s full of quality, and they are still out in front of the peloton with a lead of around 2min 30sec.

Tour de France LIVE – Teunissen first through intermediate sprint

14:54 , Lawrence Ostlere

45km to go: Mike Teunissen is first through the intermediate sprint and picks up a few extra Euros as a result, as well as some pretty meaningless points, given the dominance of Jasper Philipsen in the green jersey. We are nearing the business end of this stage.

Mark Cavendish expects recovery to be ‘number of weeks’ after collarbone surgery

14:45 , Luke Baker

Mark Cavendish expects to need several weeks to get back on the bike after having surgery on his broken right collarbone.

Cavendish went under the knife on Wednesday after being forced out of what is due to be his final Tour de France following a crash on Saturday.

The 38-year-old Manxman said the operation had been more complicated than expected given he had dislodged some metalwork from a previous operation when he fell on his right shoulder during stage eight of the Tour.

“It obviously hasn’t been the ideal way to finish the Tour de France, but that’s part of the beauty and brutality of cycling!” Cavendish said in a social media post from hospital.

Mark Cavendish expects recovery to be ‘number of weeks’ after collarbone surgery

Tour de France LIVE – UAE Emirates working hard to contain breakaway

14:40 , Lawrence Ostlere

55km to go: UAE Emirates are working hard to ensure the breakaway is moving not too far up the road, with a gap now between the peloton and the break of about two minutes. UAE want Tadej Pogacar as close as possible to the front of the race when they reach the foot of the Grand Colombier climb, so he can power to the top and win the stage and collect bonus seconds with it. Allowing the break to go and win the stage would mean no bonus seconds for the GC fight behind them.

Tour de France LIVE - Bastille Day action

14:29 , Luke Baker

It’s Bastille Day in France today and there are tricolores dotted along the route.

Tour de France LIVE - breakawy extends towards intermediate sprint

14:23 , Luke Baker

66km to go: In just under 20 klicks or so, we’ve got an intermediate sprint although I’m not sure that will bother many of those in the breakaway. Speaking of the lead group, they’re up above 2 minutes clear now, slowly establishing their lead.

The heads of state in the peloton are conserving their energy for the trials and tribulations ahead. Things won’t really heat up until we get to the Grand Colombier towards the finish. Then it’s Vingegaard vs Pogacar. Who have you got today? Pogacar seems to be the man with the momentum, even if not the maillot jaune at the moment.

Tour de France LIVE - Bernal in trouble?

14:18 , Luke Baker

75km to go: Egan Bernal of Ineos has dropped back among the team cars - this could be a problem for the man currently 29th in the GC.

If you remember, Bernal won the Tour de France in 2019 but suffered an absolute horror crash when hitting a bus while out for a training ride in January 2022. He suffered a fractured vertebra, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella, chest trauma, a punctured lung and several rib fractures.

He’s done superbly to ride professionally again but is still getting his sea legs under him. It’s his first Tour since that crash

Tour de France LIVE - breakaway establishes itself

14:09 , Luke Baker

80km to go: Right, this breakaway have managed to establish themselves and have carved out an advantage of about 1min 40s at this point.

It’s a big old group - listed in full below - and includes Brit Fred Wright. Michal Kwiatkowski of Ineos also in there.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Matej Mohoric, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Adrien Petit, Mike Teunissen, Georg Zimmerman (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), Maxim van Gils, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), Cees Bol, Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).

Israel Premier Tech boss criticises Chris Froome as ‘not value for money’

14:05 , Lawrence Ostlere

Some headline-grabbing quotes from the owner of Israel Premier Tech yesterday, after he was asked about Chris Froome, their big-money signing who was left out of the Tour de France squad:

“How could we say we had value for money?” Sylvain Adams told cyclingweekly.com. “We signed Chris to be the leader of our Tour de France team and he’s not even here, so that cannot be considered value for money … Chris isn’t a symbol. He isn’t a PR tool … So no, I couldn’t say he’s value for money, no.”

Tour de France 2023 standings

13:55 , Lawrence Ostlere

If you select the ‘stopwatch’ tab on the tracker above, you can take a look through the five categories of standings – the yellow jersey (overall), green jersey (sprint), polka dot jersey (mountains), white jersey (youth) and team.

Today Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is in yellow with a slender 17-second lead over Tadej Pogacar; Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is in green, having dominated the sprints with four wins from four attempts, and he leads Mads Pedersen by a huge 141 points; America’s Neilson Powless (EF Education) remains in polka dots, though his advantage could be shredded as Vingegaard and Pogacar battle in the Alps over the coming days and sweep up King of the Mountains points; Pogacar (UAE Emirates) is wearing the young rider’s white jersey, four minutes up on Ineos’s Carlos Rodriguez; and Bahrain Victorious are the leading team, just ahead of Ineos and Jumbo-Visma. The top team typically wear yellow on their helmets.

Tour de France LIVE – Another breakaway brought back

13:35 , Lawrence Ostlere

105km to go: The last four to go – Pacher, Van Gils, Oliveira and Teunissen – have all been brought back into the fast peloton. This is frantic stuff early on. Now a much bigger bunch is going, of about 20 riders.

Tour de France LIVE – Pogacar ready to go ‘full gas'

13:30 , Lawrence Ostlere

Pogacar, who is expected to be on the attack, said: “I can’t wait to be there. Tomorrow is a good climb, if the legs are good, we can attack; if they’re not good maybe just follow until the top.

“This one will be full gas,” the 24-year-old said.

Tour de France LIVE – flurry of early attacks shut down

13:26 , Lawrence Ostlere

110km to go: There have been a flurry of early attacks but those involved are struggling to make it stick against a high-paced peloton reeling them back in. The latest attempt to get away is by Pacher, Van Gils, Oliveira and Teunissen.

Tour de France LIVE – Bastille Day

13:20 , Lawrence Ostlere

It’s Bastille Day in France, and locals will be hoping for a home win. That may prove hard to come by, given the parcours and the lack of Frenchmen near the top of the leaderboard.

Tour de France LIVE – two riders escape up the road

13:13 , Lawrence Ostlere

120km to go: So we are under way on stage 13 and two riders have made an early break for it: Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X).

Tour de France – delight for Spanish Basque region

13:12 , Lawrence Ostlere

When Pello Bilbao won Tuesday’s stage 10, it was a first Spanish stage winner in five years. Two days later there was another, both from Basque riders thriving in a race which began in their home region.

“I felt strong in the last kilometres,” Ion Izagirre said. “Many things went through my mind. It’s all very emotional. It’s a very Basque Tour de France. It started at home for us and we took two stage wins. I’m happy to follow the line drawn by Pello Bilbao.”

Tour de France LIVE – riders gather for stage 13 start

12:48 , Lawrence Ostlere

The peloton has come together on the start line for stage 13, with the jersey wearers together at the front sharing a few words. Will we see a showdown between the man in yellow, Vingegaard, and the rider in white, Pogacar? Almost certainly. This has the makings of a thrilling race to the top of the Grand Colombier.

Tour de France LIVE – Vingegaard braced for ‘very decisive day'

12:41 , Lawrence Ostlere

A fter a few days with the mere mortals in the peloton, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar are ready to resume their battle for the Tour de France title as the 13th stage will be decided at the top of the lung-busting ascent to the Col du Grand Colombier on Friday.

The 17.4km climb, at an average gradient of 7.1%, will provide the perfect stage for defending champion Vingegaard and twice winner Pogacar, who have been a cut above the rest of the field, to fight for yellow again in a highly-anticipated duel.

“They’re on another planet,” Frenchman Guillaume Martin, 13th in the general classification and the 2020 Vuelta mountains classification winner, said on Thursday.

“How I see them? In the climbs, from afar,” he joked. “At least there are two of them so you have a proper show, a real duel to watch.”

Pogacar trails overall leader Vingegaard by 17 seconds and who is going to attack first on Friday is anyone’s guess as both riders are keeping their cards close to their chest.

“I think tomorrow will be a very important stage,” the soft-spoken Vingegaard said. “The climb is very hard, I’ve done it once and I think it will be a very decisive day.”

Tour de France LIVE – stage-by-stage guide

12:32 , Lawrence Ostlere

This is set to be a crucial weekend in this Tour de France, with today’s stage on the Colombier followed by two mountainous stages in the Alps which will come to define this race, and this duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Here’s a deeper look at the rest of the race route:

Stage-by-stage guide to the 2023 Tour de France route

Recap: Ion Izagirre solos to victory in explosive Tour de France 12th stage

12:16 , Lawrence Ostlere

Ion Izagirre soloed to victory at the end of an explosive stage 12 of the Tour de France to Belleville-en-Beaujolais.

Eleven days after Victor Lafay ended a 15-year wait for a stage win for the Cofidis team, Izagirre doubled up with a perfectly-timed attack from the breakaway.

The Basque rider, 34, went solo during the final climb, still with 31 kilometres remaining of the 169km stage through wine country from Roanne that was again raced at a ferocious pace.

The much-reduced peloton came in more than four minutes after Izagirre, with Jonas Vingegaard retaining his 17-second lead over Tadej Pogacar as the Alps loom this weekend, but only after putting a big effort in over the first part of the stage which could come with a price to pay in the days ahead.

Ion Izagirre soloed to victory in explosive Tour de France 12th stage

Tour de France LIVE – stage 13 timings

12:09 , Lawrence Ostlere

The stage is set to begin at around 12.45pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4-4.30pm BST, depending on just how quickly it is raced.

Tour de France LIVE – a closer look at the Grand Colombier

12:02 , Lawrence Ostlere

The Colombier climb that marks the finish of this stage 13 is long (17.4km) and pretty steep too (7.1%), making it an hors categorie ascent – the toughest category by race organisers.

It starts hard and quickly cranks up above 12%, before a brief flatter section in the middle. The relief doesn’t last long, however, and the climb finishes as it started, steeply tilting upwards before cresting the summit. There the relief of the finish line awaits – and the glory of a Tour de France stage victory for the first to the top.

Tour de France LIVE: Stage 13 map and profile

11:52 , Lawrence Ostlere

Here’s a closer look at today’s route, as the peloton heads east towards the Jura Mountains and then on to the high Alps over the weekend.

The majority of the day is flat but then comes a rise towards the intermediate sprint point before the drop down to the foot of the Colombier.

Stage 13 preview: Summit finish on Grand Colombier

11:43 , Lawrence Ostlere

The 2023 Tour de France is reaching its most crucial phase and everything is set up for a showdown in the Alps between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Put simply, the next three days will almost certainly decide the destiny of the yellow jersey.

Yesterday saw an impressive win for Ion Izagirre and a stressful day Vingegaard, who was forced to give chase with little help from his teammates amid a high early pace. He retained the maillot jaune but will have been frustrated to have put so much effort into a stage preceeding such a decisive point in the race.

The first of three back-to-back brutal routes is this stage 13 ride from Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne to the summit of the Grand Colombier. At 138km it is not a long trek, nor is it especially hilly for much of the day: the road is relatively flat for 75km, before an uphill drag to the day’s intermediate sprint point. But then comes a fast descent to the foot of the big climb to the finish, where we can expect fireworks from the main contenders.

Full preview:

Tour de France stage 13 preview: GC showdown on the Grand Colombier

Tour de France LIVE – Stage 13

11:35 , Lawrence Ostlere

Hello! Welcome along to live coverage of stage 13 of the Tour de France – a potentially decisive day as the peloton heads towards a summit finish atop the Grand Colombier.