Dani Martínez rides to victory on brutal Tour de France stage 13 as Roglič extends overall lead

Dani Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) beat Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) to victory on the brutal stage 13 of the Tour de France 2020, after both had been in the day's main breakaway.

The two made it to the final kilometre together after catching lone leader and Kämna's team-mate Max Schachmann. Once Schachmann had dropped off, the remaining duo couldn't lose each other on the final steep slopes of the summit finish, with Kämna the first to launch his sprint to the line with 150m to go. He couldn't hold off the chase of Martínez though, who was able to come past and hold his sprint to the line to take victory, with Kämna coming in four seconds behind.

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Six minutes back on the road, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) extended his overall lead after going clear of the other GC contenders with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in tow. The pair crossed the line together on the same time, with Egan Bernal (Ineos) finishing behind losing 38 seconds to the yellow jersey.

How it happened

The riders of the 2020 Tour de France faced a brutal day into the Massif Central on stage 13, with over 4,000m of climbing to be tackled along the 191.5km route from Châtel-Guyon to the steep summit finish at Puy Mary Cantal.

The start was fast and chaotic as a huge amount of riders tried to get in the break. After a plethora of attacks, five riders managed to make something stick just past the 15km mark, with Rémi Cavagna and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r La Mondiale), Simon Geschke (CCC), and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) getting away.

As they moved to around over a minute up the road, a lot of riders then tried to make the bridge across from the peloton, which was still speeding along led by Jumbo-Visma and dropping a lot of sprinters out of the rear.

The first to make the bridge was Marc Soler (Movistar), with Cosnefroy unable to hack the pace and going the other way. With just over 60km gone a large chasing group, including Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Hugh Carthy, Dani Martínez and Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), was able to make the junction to create a 17-man leading group.

Behind, Jumbo-Visma were satisfied with the riders that had escaped and settled in at an easier pace. The gap to the leaders then just went up and up as the race went over the numerous climbs peppered along the route, and with just under 50km to go it was up to over 10 minutes.

The first move away from the leading group came from Neilson Powless with 38km to go. He very quickly established a gap of around 30 seconds, with Max Schachmann attacking from behind to try and bridge the gap just a couple of kilometers later. The German eventually made it up to the American leader with 29km to go and pair started to work together, holding a gap of around 37 seconds before extending that out to 56 seconds with 20km to go

In the peloton, Ineos had now moved to the front to try and control things, with Luke Rowe driving the pace ahead of Jumbo-Visma.

Up an uncategorised rise with 18.3km to go, Schachmann was able to shake Powless and immediately gain a 13-second advantage. The pursuing group behind struggled to get organised and the minute gap was not dropping quickly as they headed towards the final two categorised climbs on the route.

Marc Soler then attempted to try and drive the pace into the foot of the penultimate category two climb, with Powless caught by the chasing group with 14km to go, but they still trailed over a minute behind Schachmann.

That acceleration by Soler did thin out the group though, with Alaphilippe dropped as Dani Martínez accelerated away with Soler and Schachmann’s team-mate Kämna with 13.3km to go. Soler couldn’t hold the pace and was dropped less than a kilometre later, with Martínez having to do all the work as Kämna sat in his wheel, the gap now down to 42 seconds.

As Schachmann hit the final 5.4km climb to the finish, the chasing duo were only 20 seconds behind and it looked like the three would be together before the finish.

But Schachmann held his own, and into the final 2km still had 17 seconds’ advantage, but still faced the steepest part of the climb.

Those steep ramps lent themselves in Martínez’s favour, with the catch being made with 1.6km to go. Kämna then tried to accelerate with Martínez immediately following, but Schachmann was dropped, though eventually clawed his way back as the other two slowed.

Kämna then tried again with 600m to go, finally ending Schachmann’s day, but couldn’t lose Martínez who then immediately counter-attacked.

The pair couldn’t be separated though, and as they reached 150m to go it was Kämna who launched a sprint to the line. Critérium du Dauphiné winner Martínez wasn’t going to be stopped from taking his maiden Tour de France victory though, and was able to come round Kämna and seal victory on one of the Tour’s toughest stages.

Back down the road the GC fight was beginning to come to fruition. The first contenders to be dropped were Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) on the penultimate climb as Ineos drove the pace. Bardet had been involved in a crash earlier in the stage along with Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), with the latter forced to abandon the race.

Towards the top of the penultimate climb Jumbo-Visma took up the pacing and looked to be setting Roglič up for the final climb.

Everyone was together as they hit the final 5.4km climb, but it was the steep last 2km to the line that saw the Slovenian duo Tadej Pogačar and Roglič drift away from the other contenders, who began to be scattered down the climb as the tough gradient sustained.

Egan Bernal was chief among those set to lose out the most as he fell to over 30 seconds behind Roglič who looked to be holding a comfortable cadence up the 15 per cent gradients. Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) made a strong effort to stay close to the Slovenian pair, but there was no stopping them crossing the line together to keep Roglič in the overall lead and put Pogačar into second at 44 seconds.

Bernal eventually came home alongside Rigoberto Uran at 38 seconds down on Roglic, slipping to third overall at 59 seconds.

Results

Tour de France 2020, stage 13: Châtel-Guyon to Puy Mary Cantal (191.5km)

1. Dani Martínez (Col) EF Pro Cycling, in 5-01-47

2. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 4 seconds

3. Max Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 51 seconds

4. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 1-33

5. Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, at 1-42

6. Nicola Edet (Fra) Cofidis, at 1-53

7. Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team, at 2-35

8. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at 2-43

9. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling, at 3-18

10. David De La Cruz (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-52

Others

12. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 6-05

13. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at same time

14. Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo, at 6-18

15. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at same time

16. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 6-21

18. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, at 6-43

19. Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Pro Cycling, at same time

20. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 6-45

21. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at same time

22. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 6-57

27. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 8-35

29. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 8-51

General classification after stage 13

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 56-34-35

2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 44s

3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, at 59s

4. Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Pro Cycling, at 1-10

5. Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkéa-Samsic, at 1-12

6. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 1-31

7. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 1-42

8. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 1-55

9. Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo, at 2-06

10. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 2-54