Schmid wins Tour de France stage 13 in Belfort sprint as Pidcock leaps to fourth overall

Stage win for Schmid

Mauro Schmid secured his first Tour de France stage victory in Belfort, beating Harold Tejada in a two-man sprint after a 205-kilometre breakaway. The Swiss Jayco-AlUla rider attacked 15.5 kilometres from the finish on the descent from the Ballon d'Alsace, with only the Colombian Tejada able to match his pace. In the final sprint, Tejada launched at 200 metres, but Schmid countered and pulled clear to win by a bike length, celebrating with a wheelie. The win was Schmid's 14th professional victory and his second on a Grand Tour after a Giro d'Italia stage in 2021. It was also the first Swiss stage win at the Tour since Marc Hirschi in 2020. Schmid had come close a year earlier, losing a two-up sprint to Jonas Abrahamsen on stage 11 in Toulouse.

Pidcock's big move

Tom Pidcock finished third, two seconds behind the leading pair, and vaulted from 10th to fourth overall. The British Pinarello-Q36.5 rider began the day 11 minutes 49 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar. By joining the day's large breakaway and driving the pace, he gained over seven and a half minutes on the peloton and moved to 4 minutes 15 seconds off the yellow jersey, just nine seconds behind Remco Evenepoel in third. At one point he was virtual second overall on the road. Pidcock attacked on the Ballon d'Alsace but was reeled in before the descent; he then won the sprint for third from the chasing group. This continues a strong Tour for the Briton, who also placed third on stage 9 despite a late mechanical.

It's been amazing. I don't really have a voice left, Tom was amazing but the whole team rode so well. For us to put so many riders in the breakaway and commit was brilliant. Tom is such a fighter and he's really turned this race upside down.

Yellow jersey unchanged

Tadej Pogacar finished safely in the peloton, 7 minutes 32 seconds behind the stage winner, and retained the overall lead. The Slovenian's advantage over second-placed Jonas Vingegaard stayed at 3 minutes 36 seconds. Remco Evenepoel remained third at 4 minutes 6 seconds. The general classification contenders allowed the breakaway to stay clear, conserving energy ahead of two mountain stages over the weekend. The peloton was paced by Bahrain and Red Bull teams.

How the stage unfolded

The 205-kilometre route from Dole to Belfort, the longest of this year's Tour, saw a massive breakaway form early. Two groups merged around 90 kilometres from the finish, swelling the lead group to 57 riders at its peak. It included sprinters like Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen contesting the intermediate sprint at Melisey, as well as stage hunters. The Ballon d'Alsace, a category-one climb of 9.1 kilometres at 6.9%, reduced the front group to ten. Schmid crossed the summit second behind Pidcock, then launched his decisive move with Tejada on the long descent towards Belfort. The chasing group, led by Pidcock and later joined by Tim Wellens, closed to within seconds but could not catch the duo. The stage was ridden at an average speed of nearly 50 kilometres per hour.

Next: Vosges mountains

Stage 14 on Saturday tackles four climbs in the Vosges, including three first-category ascents, and finishes at Markstein, where Pogacar won a stage in 2023. The demanding profile is expected to provoke attacks among the overall favourites, with Pidcock now within striking distance of the podium.