Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) outsprinted breakaway partner Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) to win stage 13 in Belfort at the end of what was the longest stage of this year’s Tour de France.
The pair nipped out of the final selection of a huge breakaway that had established itself after around 30km of riding, and despite a keen chase from behind, managed to hold on to sprint it out in Belfort after a 205.8km stage that took the peloton into the Vosges.
With the riders cresting the cat-one climb of the Ballon d’Alsace with 30km to go, many eyes were on Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) with his elite descending ability. But the descent was not steep and technical enough and, when Schmid and Tejada broke clear, his challenge ultimately faded out – though he led the chasers in for third place.
Another consolation for Pidcock was a big GC boost – having started the day in 10th place, the Brit finished it in fourth, nine seconds off Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and the podium, thanks to a 7:32 gap back to the main peloton and the other GC players.
Pogačar retains the yellow jersey, and Pidcock’s leap up the standings was the only significant GC change.
“I can’t believe it at the moment. It was an incredibly hard day from the start,” said Schmid afterwards. “We were keen to be there in the breakaway. We’ve tried many times already but so far it didn’t go as planned. I felt really good from the start but it was full gas from the first minute. But the boys came from the back so I just stayed on, it was just perfect.
“I started to cramp up a bit with four Ks to go so I got a bit worried,” added the 26-year-old Swiss rider, who lost out in a similar two-up sprint with Jonas Abrahamsen in Toulouse last year. “I stayed at the back with two Ks to go and hoped he would go from the front, but at some point he forced me to the first position. I think I launched it a bit late, and the first 50m I thought, ‘ah maybe it’s the same as last year’, and then I found my legs again and just went for it.”
He described the victory as very much a team effort, with Jayco-AlUla’s numbers giving them multiple cards to play.
“I was a bit worried the climb might be too hard for me, and at the beginning when Ben [O’Connor] paced I was like I’m not sure I can go to the top like this,” he said. “I think for me it was quite good that it was a bit stop and go. It was a good situation because I knew we had Bling [Michael Matthews] in the back, so the first part of the downhill I was just making sure I wasn’t getting dropped. Then I tried to put the pace down a little bit, and I tried one time and, yeah, got away.”
More to follow…
