Warren Barguil wins stage 13 of the Tour de France
Friday 14 July 2017 18:06, UK
Warren Barguil gave France a second successive stage victory by claiming a stage 13 Bastille Day triumph with Fabio Aru retaining the yellow jersey.
An explosive 101km stage, from Saint-Girons to Foix, was the shortest in this year's Tour de France, but featured three Category One climbs and after Romain Bardet's victory on Thursday, it was Barguil's turn to take the limelight, much to the delight of the French fans.
Wearing the polka dot jersey, the mountains classification leader's jersey, Barguil beat Nairo Quintana, Alberto Contador and Mikel Landa to the line in a final four-man sprint and having come so close on Sunday to a stage win was delighted at the finish line.
"It completely makes up for it. This just felt so good today," said Barguil.
"Alberto Contador went on the attack. I went on the outside of him and then back in and I knew that I would be the fastest. "I had great legs today after a tough stage yesterday."
"Contador was my idol when I was younger. I never would have believed that I could do this a few years ago."
Astana's Aru kept hold of the leader's yellow jersey, having wrestled it from Team Sky's Chris Froome during a brutal finish to a brutal stage 12.
His six-second lead over Froome remains unchanged, as does the three-time winner's 25-second lead over Bardet and Froome feels he is well placed to mount a renewed push for the leader's jersey.
"Yesterday was a tough day for me in the finale but today I was feeling much better," Froome said.
"We played with the team because Landa was not far in the general classification, it was perfect for us. Mikel is very strong and maybe we'll do the same kind of thing in the coming days."
Contador (Trek-Segafredo) attacked the race on the first of three categorised climbs, joined by Sky's Landa, and later Quintana and Barguil.
The latter two caught the former just before cresting the final summit of the day, 27km from the finish, with Barguil bringing great delight to the home fans on their national holiday.
Both Contador and Quintana had lost significant time over the first 12 days that left their overall hopes in tatters.
But Contador moved into the top 10, although still more than five minutes back, while Quintana, still eighth, now has a deficit of just 2:07 to Aru.
With two stages in the Alps to come, a resurgent Quintana is once again a serious threat for overall victory.
The top four in the fight for yellow - who started the day separated by just 35 seconds - were all in the same group at the finish, which means that Romain Bardet remains third, 25 seconds back with Colombian Rigoberto Uran in fourth.
But Team Sky did make a major impression on the day as Landa's place in the break saw him claw back one minute and 48 seconds on the general classification, moving him up to fifth, 69 seconds back.
Aru suffered a blow midway through today's stage when teammate Jakob Fuglsang was forced to abandoned the race with two fractures to his wrist following a crash in stage 11.
FDJ's Arthur Vichot was also forced to abandon due to injuries sustained two days earlier.
In the final 10km, Ireland's Dan Martin and Simon Yates of Britain escaped out of Aru's group to snatch back a few seconds, although both lost a place to Landa.
Stage 13 Result
1. Warren Barguil (FRA/SUN) 2hrs 36min 29sec
2. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) same time.
3. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) same time.
4. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 0:02.
5. Simon Yates (GBR/ORI) 1:39.
6. Daniel Martin (IRL/QST) 1:39.
7. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/SKY) 1:48.
8. Christopher Froome (GBR/SKY) 1:48.
9. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) 1:48.
10. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 1:48.
Overall Standings
1. Fabio Aru (ITA/Astana) 55hrs 30mins 06sec.
2. Christopher Froome (GBR/SKY) at 6 seconds.
3. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 25secs.
4. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 35secs.
5. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 1:09secs.
6. Daniel Martin (IRL/QST) 1:32secs.
7. Simon Yates (GBR/ORI) 2:04secs.
8. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 2:07secs.
9. Louis Meintjes (RSA/EAU) 4:51secs.
10. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) 5:22secs.
