Tour de France Stage 13 - Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Le Cap d'Agde
With the Alps now firmly in the rearview mirror, the peloton continue their southward push to the Mediterranean en route to the next big challenge in the Pyrennes. At 217 km or 134 miles, Stage 13 is on the long side, but it's relatively flat. Onstensibly, this is one for the sprinters. That said, if it's windy along the Mediterranean coast, it could cause some splits in the peloton, that is liklely quite fatigued from the campaign in the Alps. Woe to Tour de France 2012 favorites who fail to pay attention lest the wind or crashes get them!
Tour de France Stage 13 Results:
Cadel Evans, apparently, loves to attack on steep category 3 climbs, as was this case on short Mont Saint Clair climb on the outskirts of Le Cap d'Agde. The echelons of the wind-shattered peloton were further shattered by the effort, which saw sprinter Mark Cavendish go out the back. But if Evans effort was intended to distance the Yellow Jersey of Bradley Wiggins or other Tour de France 2012 contenders still in the hunt, that was not the case. In fact, so strong Wiggins that he lead sprint for teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was beaten on the line by the battling duo of Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan. The finish was close but the photo showed Greipel on top with his 3rd stage win of the 2012 Tour. Sagan held onto the Green Jersey; Wiggins to the Yellow, and there was no change of significance in the general classiciation.
Stage 3 Results (Top 10 Finishers)
| 1 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team | 4:57:59 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
| 3 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling | |
| 4 | Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 5 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team | |
| 6 | Julien Simon (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
| 7 | Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
| 8 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
| 9 | Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep | |
| 10 | Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre - ISD |
General Classification after Stage 13 (Top 2o)
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling | 11:32:32 |
| 2 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:02:05 |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:02:23 |
| 4 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:03:19 |
| 5 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team | 0:04:48 |
| 6 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:06:15 |
| 7 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:06:57 |
| 8 | Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | 0:07:30 |
| 9 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:08:31 |
| 10 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | 0:08:51 |
| 11 | Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:09:29 |
| 12 | Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:09:45 |
| 13 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:10:49 |
| 14 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:11:27 |
| 15 | Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:12:41 |
| 16 | Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team | 0:17:21 |
| 17 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:17:41 |
| 18 | Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | 0:18:04 |
| 19 | Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team | 0:19:02 |
| 20 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | 0:20:12 |
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