Tour de France

Belgian double victory on the 13th stage

Jasper Philipsen(Bild: AP)

Before the Tour de France heads into the Pyrenees at the weekend, Jasper Philipsen has secured victory in the sprint finish in Pau.

After 165 consistently flat kilometers, the Belgian confidently beat his compatriot Wout van Aert and celebrated his second victory in the current tour. There were no changes at the top of the overall standings. Even before the start, Red Bull captain Primoz Roglic, who had crashed twice recently, abandoned.

Wout van Aert(Bild: AP)

Tadej Pogacar once again defended the overall lead. The Slovenian is 1:06 minutes ahead of Belgium's time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark is 1:14 back in third. Austrian Felix Gall climbed up three places and into the top ten (10th/+9:18).

(Bild: AP)

Numerous breakaway groups formed on the flat stage thanks to the wind edges. They were always caught. This led to a hectic finale including a crash at the front of the peloton. However, none of the contenders for the overall classification had to go down. Gall found himself in the second group at the finish. "The guys did a great job of closing the gap," praised the Decathlon captain, who was classified at the same time as the other classement riders.

Roglic crashed heavily
Roglic did not get back on the saddle on Friday. The team, which also includes Austrian helper Marco Haller, did not provide any information about the severity of the injuries. Roglic crashed on his right hip and shoulder on Thursday's twelfth stage a few kilometers before the finish and subsequently dropped to sixth place in the overall standings. After that, the Slovenian - who also has Olympic ambitions - could no longer have realistic hopes of reaching the Tour podium.

Primoz Roglic(Bild: AFP/AFP or licensors)

The winner of the Giro d'Italia (2023) and three-time winner of the Spanish Vuelta had joined the German racing team before the season. The clear goal was to compete for the Tour victory. However, a number of time losses to the competition in the first half of the Tour and the withdrawal of helper Alexander Vlasov made the plan even more difficult.