In an uphill finish, Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) won a great solo victory this Friday in stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France, on a mountainous 137.8-kilometre journey that started from Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne and ended in the mythical Grand Colombier.
The Polish cyclist turned out to be the strongest of the numerous escape. The Belgian Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) came second and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) finished third, deducting four seconds, plus three from the bonus to Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Vima).
“Winning at the top of the Grand Colombier is very significant for me. I had bad memories of three years ago, when Egan Bernal suffered so much. Honestly, I thought the breakaway was just a way to get to the bottom of the final climb, but I didn’t think we were going to reach the finish line,” said Kwiatkowski, in statements collected by the organization.
The Colombian Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) of great performance entered the finish line in eighth position on this day, 1:05 seconds behind the winner, thus achieving an important rise in the general classification, where he is now in position 30 °.
The escape of the day was led by Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-dstny), Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek ), Adrien Petit (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Hugo Houle (Israel-PremierTech), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan), Anthon Charmig (Uno- X) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Regarding the general classification, the Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) kept the yellow jersey for one more day, ahead of the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and the Australian Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe). Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) is the best Latino rider in 26th place.
The French round will continue this Saturday, July 15, with stage 14, another 151.8-kilometre mountainous day between Annemasse and Morzine les Portes du Soleil, with a downhill finish.
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico