Stage 13 takes the riders along a 165km route from Agen to Pau, where the day will finish in one of the cities most familiar to the Tour de France.
This will make it the 63rd time that a stage has finished in Pau, which is the third most visited city in the history of the Tour de France, behind only Paris and Bordeaux. The last of those stage finishes in Pau was a memorable 2019 time trial, which Julian Alaphilippe won in the Yellow Jersey to the delight of the local fans.
After the riders set off from Agen, the Lot-et-Garonne serves up some lovely balcony roads early in the stage, when the formation of a potential breakaway will be closely measured by the sprinters’ teams. If the sports directors of the sprinters’ squads judge the evolution of the race correctly, their big stars won’t be caught out by the day’s escapees.
However, amidst the hilly terrain approaching the finish, the category 4 Blachon and Simacourbe climbs could pose a problem for those sprinters who are not comfortable in the hills.
The intermediate sprint on the Nogaro race track (km 88.5) will bring back good memories for Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who took the victory on Stage 4 there last year.
The 2023 green jersey winner Philipsen has a big battle on his hands if he is to defeat the current wearer of the Maillot Vert Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) in the 2024 Points classification. Whilst Girmay took his third victory of this year’s Tour on Stage 12 on Thursday in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, it was a difficult day for Alpecin-Deceuninck as Philipsen’s teammates Jonas Rickaert and Soren Kragh Andersen fell outside the time limit, eliminating them from the race.
If the sprinters’ teams do manage to control the breakaway or any late pretenders who may attack towards the end of the stage, then Girmay and Philipsen will of course be in the mix for another win, along with the likes of Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan).
There are plenty more seriously fast finishers at the 2024 Tour, so keep an eye out once more for contenders such as Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility), Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Arnaud Demare (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Byran Coquard (Cofidis).
