VALENCE, France (AFP) – Slovakian Peter Sagan underlined his sprint credentials for the third time on the Tour de France Friday after powering to victory in the 13th stage from Bourg d’Oisans to Valence.
Sagan, of the Bora team, is one of the few real sprint specialists still in the race after surviving an Alpine stage trilogy that proved fatal to the hopes of rivals Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel and Dylan Groenewegen.
All the aforementioned exited the race over two tough days in the Alps, and Sagan – who had won two stages on this edition so far – was quick to capitalize.
“It was very beautiful to win today after three days in the Alps,” said Sagan, whose 11th career win on the race helped take his tally in the points competition to 398 points.
Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (UAE), who finished a close second, has 170 points while Frenchman Arnaud Demare, of Groupama, has 133.
Britain’s Geraint Thomas, fresh from winning two stages in the Alps, remained in the leader’s yellow jersey.
Welshman Thomas leads Sky teammate Chris Froome by 1min 39secs, with Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) third overall at 1:50.
Although Froome is Sky’s team leader, Thomas said: ”I hope to keep the jersey as long as possible.
”But it’s a three-week race and the Pyrenees are going to be even tougher.”
