Primoz Roglic tightened his grip on the Tour de France overall lead as he dropped defending champion Egan Bernal in the final ascent of a gruelling 13th stage in the Massif Central on Friday.
Daniel Martinez prevailed from the breakaway at the end of a punishing 191.5-km trek from Chatel-Guyon before the big guns battled it out in the finale of the short, yet brutal climb up to the Puy de Mary, where the average gradient rose above 11%.
Egan Bernal could not sustain the pace when Tadej Pogacar accelerated, with fellow Slovenian Roglic the only rider able to follow. The duo crossed the line 38 seconds ahead of a grimacing Bernal, who slipped to third in the general classification, 59 seconds off the pace.
Pogacar is now second, 44 seconds behind Roglic.
“The Tour is not finished yet, there is still a lot of things that can happen, a lot of riders are still in the mix,” said Roglic.
Eight riders are still within two minutes but Roglic has been the most impressive, never losing his cool despite Pogacar’s repeated onslaughts.
“I don’t want to bother looking at names and comparing myself with others. I’ll continue to focus on myself,” said Vuelta champion Roglic.
Bernal saw Roglic and Pogacar fade in the distance as his face turned into a mask of pain in the last two kilometres of the ascent to the Puy Mary.
The Colombian collapsed on his bike after the finish, mumbling: “I looked at my numbers, they’re good, the others are just better.”
Friday’s stage signalled the end of French hopes as Romain Bardet, who started the day in fourth place overall 30 seconds off the pace, ended up 2:30 behind Roglic after the 2016 runner-up took a heavy tumble earlier.
Tour de France 2020 – stage 13 results (Châtel-Guyon – Pas de Peyrol):
| 1 | Daniel Martinez (EF Pro Cycling) | 5:01:47 |
| 2 | Lennard Kämna (Bora-hansgrohe) | +04” |
| 3 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +51” |
| 4 | Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) | +01’33” |
| 5 | Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) | +01’42” |
| 6 | Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) | +01’53” |
| 7 | Simon Geschke (CCC) | +02’35” |
| 8 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +02’43” |
| 9 | Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) | +03’18” |
| 10 | David De la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) | +03’52” |
| 11 | Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) | +04’31” |
| 12 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +06’05” |
| 13 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 14 | Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) | +06’18” |
| 15 | Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) | ,, |
| 16 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +06’21” |
| 17 | Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) | +06’29” |
| 18 | Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) | +06’43” |
| 19 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Pro Cycling) | ,, |
| 20 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +06’45” |
Tour de France 2020 – general classification after stage 13:
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | 56:34:35 |
| 2 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | +44” |
| 3 | Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) | +59” |
| 4 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Pro Cycling) | +01’10” |
| 5 | Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) | +01’12” |
| 6 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +01’31” |
| 7 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’42” |
| 8 | Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) | +01’55” |
| 9 | Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’06” |
| 10 | Enric Mas (Movistar) | +02’54” |
| 11 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | +03’00” |
| 12 | Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) | +03’11” |
| 13 | Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) | +04’32” |
| 14 | Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) | +05’11” |
| 15 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +06’22” |
| 16 | Damiano Caruso (Bahrain McLaren) | +07’02” |
| 17 | Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) | +14’34” |
| 18 | Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) | +26’12” |
| 19 | Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) | +27’11” |
| 20 | Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) | +33’30” |
