Jasper Philipsen triumphs in brutal Pau sprint after 165 km of high-speed chaos

A tired peloton, a new, flat stage. At least, on paper. This stage could have gone in multiple directions, as the sprinters' teams, especially Alpecin-Deceuninck, were fairly weakened. Stage 13 could therefore have easily been one for the breakaways. It became increasingly clear that the wind could also be a factor, and with the hilly zone in the finale, there were enough factors to make this stage a challenging one.

Right from the very start — the first kilometers ran sharply uphill from Agen — we saw significant attacks. This quickly led to a situation where a group of about twenty men was already ahead, but the peloton did not let them go. The reason? Adam Yates had stepped in. Visma | Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers did not agree, and for a long time, the leading group had a half-minute lead.

The incredibly high pace — about 49 kilometers per hour on average in the first phase — was too much for Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard was dropped early and had to abandon the race due to a COVID-19 infection. After the first twenty kilometers of racing, we saw a strong acceleration from Visma | Lease a Bike, initiated by Wout van Aert. He brought along four teammates, including Jonas Vingegaard. Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel were also attentive, while Victor Campenaerts completed the octet. This made for a fascinating little adventure, but INEOS closed the gap, and the groups came back together.

After this, we saw the same scene for about fifty kilometers: a high pace, as Yates was giving no space. To the frustration of the other men in the leading group, including Arnaud De Lie, Mathieu van der Poel, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Marijn van den Berg and Michal Kwiatkowski. From this group, which consisted of 21 men, Cort and Kwiatkowski attacked. They were joined by Julien Bernard and Romain Grégoire. The De Lie-Van der Poel-Van den Berg group was gradually reeled back in by the peloton.

The group of four was doomed. The lead was still no more than fifty seconds, and when the shelter disappeared and the pace increased, the peloton broke up into smaller pieces. A group of 35 men, including the top general classification riders, was briefly led by Evenepoel and Pogacar. In no time, the escapees were caught, but the second peloton also came back in a quieter phase. It was clear we were watching a fascinating and fast 'flat' stage.

In the last forty kilometers, there were still some hills, leading to another battle of attrition. Richard Carapaz accelerated, taking Tobias Johannessen with him. Meanwhile, sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen were already struggling, exhausted by the intense pace in the first half of the stage. Carapaz and Johannessen gained half a minute on the second fourth-category climb, with the peloton led by Visma | Lease a Bike.

They were then caught by Lotto-Dstny, led by Victor Campenaerts. The Belgians had noticed that many of the fast men had been dropped, so they set the pace for sprint leader Arnaud De Lie. This marked the end for Carapaz and the Norwegian, and the peloton had significantly reduced in size. There were no further attacks, and thus three men tried to escape again: Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Fabian Grellier (TotalEnergies) and Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny).

Stuyven tried to shake off his fellow escapees with a strong acceleration, which worked with Grellier. Behind them were Van Aert, De Lie, Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay as the main sprinters. There was no real pursuit, but Stuyven and Van Moer also did not open a large gap. With seven kilometers to go, everyone was together again. Visma | LaB took the lead for Van Aert. Various breakaway attempts were made but they were unsuccessful.

With five kilometers to go until the finish, the riders were safe from time loss in case of crashes. Abrahamsen tried to accelerate, but the sprinters' teams did not allow it. The Intermarché train opened the last kilometer, putting Girmay in pole position again. Laporte took over with Van Aert on his wheel. However, Philipsen overtook his compatriot, and he held on to the end for his second stage win. Van Aert faded just at the end and finished second. In the final kilometer, we saw an ugly crash right behind the sprint, involving many Arkéa and Lotto riders.