Tour de France Stage 13: Peter Sagan extends his lead in the points classification

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) won a bunch sprint at the end of Stage 13 to take his third stage victory of this year’s race. In so doing the Slovak extended what already seems an unassailable lead in the points competition. He is now on 398 points, while Alexander Kristoff (UAE-Team Emirates) – second in the classification and also on the day – is on 170.

The 169.5km stage from Bourg d’Oisans to Valence represented a rare opportunity for the sprinters in this second half of the Tour – not that there are many fast finishers left.

Regular Tour stage winners Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel all fell victim to the Alps, as did this year’s double stage winners Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen. (Greipel can console himself that he topped 100km/h during one descent, the highest speed recorded so far during this year’s race.)

A four-man break went at kilometre zero but was never permitted much of an advantage. There was also an unsuccessful attack by Philippe Gilbert inside the final kilometre, but he was swamped while still several hundred metres short of the line.

It was Sagan’s 11^th stage victory in the Tour de France – the same number as Greipel. Of current riders, only Kittel, with 14, and Cavendish, with 30, have won more.