RACE REPORT: Mauro Schmid produced a perfectly timed sprint to win Stage 13 of the Tour de France, beating Harold Tejada after the pair escaped from a huge 57-rider breakaway. Behind them, Tom Pidcock claimed third while the overall favourites enjoyed a rare quiet day before the decisive mountain weekend.
If Stage 13 was supposed to be a breather before the Tour’s decisive mountain weekend, nobody bothered telling the riders.
While the general classification contenders were happy to keep their powder dry, a massive, chaotic breakaway produced one of the most entertaining stages of the race. And when the dust finally settled in Belfort, it was Swiss champion Mauro Schmid who timed his sprint to perfection, edging Colombia’s Harold Tejada after the pair escaped from a select lead group inside the final 15 kilometres.
Behind them, Tom Pidcock moved into 4th place overall, just :09 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel after he won the sprint for third ahead of Maxim Van Gils. Meanwhile the yellow jersey contenders rolled home without exchanging so much as a meaningful attack.
The Break Takes Forever to Form
The profile suggested a day for the attackers, but actually getting away proved another matter entirely.
For more than 35 frantic kilometres, riders launched attack after attack as teams including XDS Astana and EF Education-EasyPost repeatedly tried to force the move. Eventually the elastic snapped, with 37 riders finally establishing daylight over the peloton.
Tom Pidcock at the start – plotting his move up GC?
One surprise among them was Jasper Philipsen, still chasing valuable Green Jersey points. His presence immediately forced race leader Mads Pedersen into action, and when Lidl-Trek couldn’t shut the gap, Pedersen bridged across with another group of roughly twenty riders.
Suddenly the break had swollen to an incredible 57 riders.
And what a collection it was.
Philipsen was joined by climbers and stage hunters including Tim Wellens, Brandon McNulty, Ben Healy, Harold Tejada, Kevin Vauquelin, Tom Pidcock, Maxim Van Gils, Marc Hirschi, Julian Alaphilippe, Ion Izagirre and Jordan Jegat. Pedersen’s chasing group added even more firepower with Ben O’Connor, Luke Plapp, Magnus Cort and Michal Kwiatkowski.
Green Jersey Games… Then UAE Let Them Go
The first battle wasn’t for the stage – it was for the intermediate sprint.
Philipsen’s group drove hard to keep Pedersen away long enough to contest the 20 available Green Jersey points. Their cooperation wasn’t perfect, however, and with around 30 kilometres remaining before the sprint, the two groups finally merged into one enormous escape.
By then UAE Team Emirates-XRG had little interest in wasting energy.
The leaders were already nearly eight minutes clear.
Only Bahrain Victorious showed any concern when Tom Pidcock, sitting around eleven minutes down on GC, suddenly found himself riding virtually into the Tour’s top ten. Their chase never seriously threatened the break’s advantage, especially with Q36.5 helping keep the pace high at the front.
The gap continued to grow as the leaders approached the day’s final obstacle – the historic Ballon d’Alsace, the very first mountain ever climbed in Tour de France history.
Pogacar kept his cool, did not attack like I predicted yesterday, and even looked tired at the post race interview.
Ballon d’Alsace Splits the Leaders
Several riders tested the waters.
Rick Pluimers attacked first before Lars Craps and Marc Hirschi each had their turn, but none could force a decisive split.
Jayco AlUla, with four riders still represented, eventually took control, hoping to deliver Michael Matthews to the finish if the group stayed together.
That plan unraveled three kilometres from the summit.
Maxim Van Gils launched the first serious acceleration, only for Tom Pidcock to drag him back. Luke Plapp then attacked—not once, but three separate times—with Pidcock repeatedly shutting every move down.
By the summit, a select group remained:
Pidcock, Plapp, Van Gils, Kevin Vauquelin, Harold Tejada, Brandon McNulty, Tim Wellens, Mauro Schmid, Clément Braz Afonso and Jordan Jegat.
Even Pidcock’s final acceleration just before the crest couldn’t shake anyone loose.
A Matthews chase group crested only thirty seconds behind, while back in the peloton Lidl-Trek maintained a comfortable tempo nearly eight minutes in arrears.
The GC favourites clearly had bigger ambitions waiting over the weekend.
Schmid Makes the Winning Move
The descent turned into a chess match.
Attack after attack came – and was immediately answered.
Then, with 15 kilometres remaining, Mauro Schmid accelerated.
Only Harold Tejada reacted.
The hesitation behind them was brief – but it proved fatal.
Within moments the pair had ten seconds. Then twenty.
Behind, the chasing group spent just enough time watching Pidcock and Wellens instead of working together, and the opportunity disappeared.
Kevin Vauquelin and Jordan Jegat made one final attempt on the uphill false flat inside five kilometres to go, but the gap never truly came down.
Up front, Schmid began playing poker remarkably early.
With around 1.5 kilometres remaining, the Swiss champion simply refused to contribute.
Tejada, sensing the danger from behind, finally committed and opened the sprint himself. It was exactly what Schmid had hoped for.
The Swiss rider immediately stepped on the gas and the drag race was on. Schmid finally surged clear when Tejada stopped pedalling just meters from the line, and celebrated with a stylish wheelie across the finish line.
A perfectly judged finale.
Behind, Pidcock comfortably won the sprint for third ahead of Van Gils, while the yellow jersey group rolled safely into Belfort, content to save every possible match for what promises to be a decisive weekend in the mountains.
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