Full-throttle racing in the Tour, Van der Poel didn't understand: "He said: I'm pushing insane wattages here"

The Tour peloton put on a show in the thirteenth stage. They went full throttle from the start. Combined with the wind, it made for an extremely fascinating race. The story of the day was the large breakaway group with Mathieu van der Poel, which was given zero space by the peloton, due to the presence of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). It resulted in a brilliant spectacle that ultimately favored the peloton.

Mike Teunissen, who served as the lead-out for green jersey holder Biniam Girmay, expressed his amazement about the stage to NOS. "The first hour and a half were unreal. I spoke to Mathieu when he got caught. He said, 'I'm pushing insane wattages, and they still catch up to us, it's unbelievable. We've been riding full throttle the whole time.' Then there was also the game with the wind... There are no easy days in the Tour. It was incredible. Tonight, we can go to bed early, which is nice for a change," Teunissen joked.

The Intermarché-Wanty rider saw his leader Girmay miss out on a fourth win. This time, the Eritrean had to settle for fourth place. "It was a very tough stage. Bini didn't feel totally great. So, we didn't involve ourselves in the pursuit. We would have been fine if a breakaway had stayed ahead," Teunissen explained. "At the end, we tried again, but that freshness wasn't there. And we have to be realistic. You always want more, but I think we should be satisfied. Today, we were mainly focused on getting Bini through the stage well. That worked, and it's no shame that he finishes fourth for once."

Stuyven: "This was a stage like in 2022 and 2023"

The Norwegian Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) launched a duo attack with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in the finale. "We are a small team here, so we have to seize every chance we get. It was an extremely tough day, and I chose to attack, knowing we still had Soren Waerenskjold in the peloton. He finished tenth, and Magnus Cort won the combativity award, so it's a good day for us," Johannessen told Eurosport.

After Johannessen and Carapaz were caught, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) attempted another move with a small group. "This was a stage like in the Tour of 2022 and 2023. Full-throttle racing. I expected the break to make it, but there was always a team willing to close it down."

Presence of Yates not an issue in the break, according to Van den Broek; Cort disagrees

The revelation of the opening day, Frank van den Broek (dsm-firmenich PostNL), was also in the large breakaway, just like Van der Poel. "It was a fast race," he responded coolly and still surprisingly fresh when talking to NOS. "It was definitely tough. I was alert in the early phase and went with the big group. But I missed John or Nils (Degenkolb and Eekhoff, ed.). There were so many fast guys. I wasn't very hopeful."

"Ultimately, everything came back together," Van den Broek continued. "Then things immediately broke apart again in the wind. As a team, we missed the split, so I gave everything in the chase. I tried to hang on as long as possible, hoping to do something, but my legs were done." Van den Broek hadn't noticed that Yates was the reason the group got no space. "I don't know exactly where he stands in the GC?" Moreover, there was no discussion about Yates in the group, according to him. "There were a few teams with several riders who kept riding anyway," Van den Broek added briefly.

If there is a grand tour breakaway, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) is almost always in there. This breakaway was a bit too large for Cort. "We quickly ended up in a larger breakaway than I had hoped," said the Danish attacker, who, unlike Van den Broek, felt Yates' presence was a much-discussed topic. "The annoying part was that Adam Yates was there. Unfortunately, he had strong team orders to stay in that group. I tried to talk to him, along with everyone else in the group, but I respect that he's there. I understand his team's tactics."

Convincing Yates didn't work, so Cort decided to force something at some point. "I wanted to split the group because I felt he was the reason the peloton kept chasing us. Unfortunately, only a group of four could get away, and that wasn't enough to make it to the finish," Cort said with regret, calling it an extremely tough day. "It must have been insanely hectic behind us, and even in the breakaway, when the peloton caught us, it was still very tough. Probably one of the hardest days I've had in this Tour, in just three and a half hours!" Cort did get to go on stage as the most combative rider after the stage.