Three riders in the lead
179 riders started stage 13 in Saint-Girons. Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and polka dot jersey holder Warren Barguil (Sunweb) attacked from the gun but were reeled in at km. Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) and Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) substituted them at the front while Michael Matthews (Sunweb) reduced his deficit to Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) by two points in the points competition. De Marchi went solo at half way into the ascent to col de Latrape with 73km remaining in the shortest stage of the 104th Tour de France.
De Marchi first at col de Latrape, Contador first at col d'Agnes
After De Marchi crested the first category 1 climb of the day in first position, Barguil attacked for the KOM points and initiated an offensive by Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikel Landa (Sky) who climbed to col d'Agnes in the lead after they set a too high pace for De Marchi. A chasing quartet was formed with Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Barguil. Contador was first at col d'Agnes and did most of the work with Landa on his wheel, so the Basque rider from Team Sky (2.55 down on GC) was not virtually in the yellow jersey as Aru, Froome, Bardet and Uran passed the summit with a deficit of 2.40.
Barguil scores again at Mur de Péguère… and wins in Foix
Jakob Fuglsang was forced to withdraw from the race due to a wrist fracture. Race leader Fabio Aru was left without any team-mate in his group along with his closest rivals on GC: Froome, Bardet, Uran… Quintana and Barguil rejoined Contador and Landa at the front. The Frenchman increased his lead in the King of the Mountains competition as he took the first place at Mur de Péguère. Froome attacked his adversaries uphill and downhill but the 8-man yellow jersey group was reunited until Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) attacked in the last ten kilometer. Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) was luckier. Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) rejoined him to contest the fifth place behind the four riders who sprinted to victory. Contador launched from far out, even before the U-turn at 400 metres to go. Barguil was smart enough to follow him and to time his sprint at perfection after losing stage 9 by very little to Uran. It's his first pro win since he won two stages at the 2013 Vuelta a España.
