{"id":806247,"date":"2026-07-16T19:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806247\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:09:10","slug":"tour-de-france-stage-13-preview-breakaway-hunters-eye-longest-stage-of-the-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806247\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France Stage 13 preview: Breakaway hunters eye longest stage of the race"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two days dominated by the sprinters, the Tour de France returns to hillier terrain on Friday with a 205.8-km trek from Dole to Belfort. And, btw, probably one of the last times you\u2019ll see a bunch sprint at this year\u2019s Tour.<\/a> The rest of the race is lumpy, very lumpy, or very, very, very lumpy. (Or a TT.)<\/p>\n

Friday is the longest stage of this year\u2019s race, but don\u2019t expect the GC battle to explode just yet. (Probably. You really never know anymore.)<\/p>\n

Stage 13 of the Tour de France<\/p>\n

The first 150 km are more or less uneventful before the race finally reaches the Vosges. The boys in France will tackle the Col des Croix before climbing the historic Ballon d\u2019Alsace. That\u2019\u2019s an 8.7-km ramp that\u2019s around 6.9 per cent. It actually became the Tour\u2019s first major mountain pass back in 1905.<\/p>\n

The summit comes with around 30 km still to race, leaving plenty of room for attacks on the descent and the rolling run into Belfort. It\u2019s a finish that rewards aggression as much as climbing legs. There could still be a selection in the main bunch if there are some riders away, so GC contenders have to be close to the front, just in case.<\/p>\n

GC weekend<\/p>\n

But, two demanding mountain stages still to come this weekend, the yellow jersey contenders are unlikely to waste energy unless an opportunity unexpectedly presents itself. That should open the door for an ambitious breakaway, and teams still chasing a first stage win will be eager to animate the race. But again, you can\u2019t really discount yellow jersey Tadej Poga\u010dar; you\u2019d think he would save his legs for the upcoming tough days, but a few more seconds might demoralize all his contenders even more.<\/p>\n

Favourites<\/p>\n

Expect the fight to make the early move to be just as intense as the finale itself. Strong all-rounders who can survive the Ballon d\u2019Alsace and still have enough punch for the run to the line are likely to be at the front. Riders such as Richard Carapaz, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Tom Pidcock and Quinn Simmons all fit the profile, while Mathieu van der Poel could also be dangerous if he can limit his losses on the climb and reconnect on the descent.<\/p>\n

It would be good for Alpecin-Premier Tech to get a win\u2013Jasper Phillipsen can\u2019t seem to get a break\u2013or have the legs, in the sprints. Osgoode, Ont.\u2019s Derek Gee-West was on the offensive for Lidl-Trek on Thursday, but probably more to help set up Simmons, Mattias Skjelmose or green jersey Mads Pedersen. Still, it\u2019s highly probable you\u2019ll see him marking moves. If one sticks? Who knows.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had some pretty great stuff so far at the Tour, and Friday may be a fun one to watch. Especially as\u2013given Pogi\u2019s dominance\u2013it may be somewhat unpredictable.<\/p>\n

You can tune into the race on Flobikes.com<\/a> at 6:50 a.m. EDT. Be sure to check back in here at Canadian Cycling Magazine to start your weekend with a bang.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Affiliate links present. Canadian Cycling Magazine may receive commissions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two days dominated by the sprinters, the Tour de France returns to hillier terrain on Friday with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[112150,49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-806247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-tour-de-france","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}