Stage 13 – Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint-Étienne – 192.6km – Friday, July 15

After three hard days in the Alps–one of which completely re-shaped the Tour–Stage 13 brings the race out of the mountains and into the Massif Central, a region known for jagged hills, winding roads, and intense heat (as if it couldn’t get any hotter).

The day begins in Le Bourg-d’Oisans, near the foot of Alpe d’Huez. The first 27km head downhill, but then the climbing begins with the Category 3 Côte de Brié (2.4km @ 6.6%). If a breakaway hasn’t gone up the road by this point, this climb will be the perfect launchpad for a group of riders to escape. And with so many teams eager to win a stage–and with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma perhaps wary of surprise attacks from Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)–the fight to join the break will again be fierce as teams position riders up the road for the latter half of the stage.

“Jagged” is indeed the most appropriate word to describe Stage 13, as the route contains a series of categorised and uncategorised climbs spread rather evenly throughout the day. As such it’s a great stage for a successful breakaway. But it’s also a good day for a smaller, more select group to make it to the finish together, with riders like Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) or Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) liking their chances.

This could also be a day for an ambush from Pogačar, who lost the yellow jersey to Vingegaard on the Col du Granon at the end of Stage 11 and showed on Alpe d’Huez at the end of Stage 12 that he’s ready to fight to get it back. Expect to see Jumbo-Visma set a hard pace at the end of the stage in an effort to deter the Slovenian from making a move. This could work in van Aert’s favour as the keeping the race together and chasing down any attacks both protects Vingegaard’s overall lead while setting-up the Belgian for another stage win, a happy marriage of the team’s yellow and green aspirations.

The finish itself is a bit tricky, with two hard corners at about 1 200- and 800-metres to go. The road passes under a highway and then bends to the left about 200 meters from the finish line. The final 2km are essentially one long false flat, which will hurt the break’s chances if a chasing peloton is close behind.

In the end, the biggest challenge will again be intense heat, with temperatures again expected to pass 35 degrees. Aside from the challenges extreme heat poses for the riders in terms of hydration and nutrition, many of the roads through this region are narrow and worn, which means we could see a crash or two if riders hit patches of melted tar.

Riders to Watch

After three hard days in the Alps, most riders will be looking for a relatively easy ride to the finish, with a smaller group of fresher, more motivated riders going off to hunt for the stage win. Several teams came to the Tour de France with a single goal–stage wins–and few of them have been successful so far. So expect to see teams like Lotto-Soudal, Trek-Segafredo, Astana, Bahrain-Victorious, and BORA-hansgrohe, (who’s GC aspirations have been put to rest) send riders up the road in the hopes of salvaging the Tour for themselves and their sponsors. If a smaller, select peloton hits the line together, van Aert and Matthews are the favourites.

When to Watch

Assuming you spent much of the last two afternoons watching the Tour, you might have some work to do. While there’s the threat of a late-stage ambush, we won’t blame you for rolling the dice and watching a replay later in the day. But we’ll be tuning in at about 16h30. ET to watch the leaders crest the final categorised climb and tackle the challenging run-in to the finish in Saint-Étienne. The race is expected to finish around 17h30.