Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel were able to conserve some energy in
Stage 13 of the Tour de France. UAE Emirates-XRG sent two riders into the breakaway, allowing the team to stay in the middle of the peloton all day.
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had no specific plans, but ultimately also had two riders in the breakaway.
UAE's plans were clear before the start, though you sometimes have to take what the team says with a grain of salt. Florian Vermeersch said in the mixed zone that
Tim Wellens and Brandon McNulty had been designated to join any breakaway, in order to give Pogačar and his teammates a bit of a rest. It was exactly those two from UAE who were in the breakaway.
Although McNulty ultimately remained among the leaders and fought hard for the stage win, Wellens had to drop out of the final earlier. Finishing in ninth place, he was far from satisfied with his performance, according to the
Belgian media. “I think I could have won, but there were others who could have as well. We were racing to win, so it’s a shame that didn’t work out. A missed opportunity.”
Still, UAE did manage to achieve something on Friday. In addition to giving Pogačar a day of much-needed rest, the team also took a big step closer to Lidl-Trek in the battle for the team classification. “It would be great to be on the podium in Paris,” Wellens said. “It would be a shame if you ride so strongly as a team and don’t win the team classification. That would be a nice bonus.”
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Van Gils was given a free pass by Evenepoel
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team leaders Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz found themselves in a similar situation, thanks to
Maxim Van Gils and Tim van Dijke. According to Van Gils, the breakaway group was so large that it would have been almost embarrassing if no one from Red Bull had been in it.
Evenepoel’s regular domestique also spoke to the Belgian media. “I have somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s nice that I’ve regained some of my strength after ten difficult first days. On the other hand, it’s a missed opportunity. Winning at the Tour is never easy, but this was definitely the moment.”
Since Van Dijke didn’t make it through the final, Van Gils found himself alone against many teams with more riders. As a result, he couldn’t prevent Mauro Schmid and Harold Tejada from breaking away. “Tactically, I didn’t ride a bad final, but maybe not the best one either,” he said critically. “There’s never really any cooperation when you’re racing against such strong riders. Then no one ever rides at full capacity.”
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Van Gils said the Tour de France breakaway group didn't have to push that hard
Van Gils concluded by emphasizing that the thirteenth stage won’t take a greater toll on the breakaway riders than on the peloton. “It was a tough stage, but I think that was true for the peloton as well. We had a massive breakaway group, which made it just a little bit easier.
Tom Pidcock? You shouldn’t let him get another 5 minutes, but 10 seconds behind Remco is okay.”
Van Gils is heading back to his team now, he added. “I didn’t even have to ride today, but I was allowed to if more than 20 riders broke away.”