Mads Pedersen produced a powerful final burst to claim victory on stage 13 of the Tour de France.
The Dane won a three-way sprint against Britain’s Fred Wright and Canada’s Hugo Houle, who were all part of a seven-man breakaway at the start of the day.
It is a first Tour stage win for Pedersen, who attacked in the final 250 metres of the 192km stage.
Jonas Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey and maintained his lead over defending champion Tadej Pogacar.
A rolling route from Le Bourg d’Oisans to Saint-Etienne saw a quiet day in the General Classification in the first stage since the race left the Alps, but the entertainment was provided by the battle for the win.
Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan crashed with 70km to go to scupper the hopes of his Lotto-Soudal team catching the break, and it soon became evident that the escapees would stay clear to the end.
Londoner Wright, 22, was hoping to emulate fellow Briton Tom Pidcock’s brilliant triumph on Alpe d’Huez on Thursday, but ultimately Pedersen was too fast and too clever to be caught.
Asked what his tactics were to deal with Pedersen in the final 1km, Wright replied: “I don’t know to be honest – I was just going to try to surprise him.”
It was Pedersen who had the plan, initially attacking with 12km to go to whittle down what was by then a six-man lead group to just three riders – and then again, decisively, in the race to the line.
The 26-year-old was World Road Race champion in 2019 but had never won a stage at any of the Grand Tours.
“It’s incredible to finally take a win,” Pedersen said. “I knew my shape was really good and I definitely missed out on the opportunities in the first week.
“In the last two weeks of this race there’s not a lot of chances for a guy like me.
“So to take the chance today and get the reward is really nice, not only for me but for the whole team. We came here with riders only for stages and now we have one so it’s such a relief.”
There will be more chances for a breakaway to succeed on Saturday’s stage, a 192.5km route from Saint-Etienne to Mende.
Stage 13 results
1. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo) 4hrs 13mins 03secs
2. Fred Wright (GB/Bahrain Victorious) Same time
3. Hugo Houle (Can/Israel-Premier Tech)
4. Stefan Kung (Swi/Groupama – FDJ) +30secs
5. Matteo Jorgenson (US/Movistar Team) Same time
6. Filippo Ganna (ITA/Ineos Grenadiers) +32secs
7. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) +5mins 45secs
8. Florian Senechal (Fra/Quick-Step-Alpha Vinyl) Same time
9. Luca Mozzato (Ita/B&B Hotels-KTM)
10. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux)
General classification after stage 13
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 50hrs 47mins 34secs
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 22secs
3. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 26secs
4. Romain Bardet (Fra/Team DSM) +2mins 35secs
5. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +3mins 44secs
6. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +3mins 58secs
7. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +4mins 07secs
8. Tom Pidcock (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +7mins 39secs
9. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +9mins 32secs
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Bora-hansgrohe) +10mins 06secs
