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At the exit of the Alps, the Tour returned to calm and Peter Sagan with his habits: the world champion took the 13th stage, Friday in Valencia, in a private sprint of most of his sizes. [19659002ThetensionwhichhadculminatedthedaybeforeintheascentoftheAlped'HuezhascomedownagainTothegeneralreliefeveniftheItalianVincenzoNibaliwhocouldnotleave(fracturedvertebra)remainsthevictimoftheoverflowsandtheimprudenceofaspectator
"It is an extreme minority, people who come here to perform and put an institution like the Tower in danger, "enraged Romain Bardet.
"The race does not deserve to be distorted", continued the Frenchman, who, like the director of the Tour Christian Prudhomme, asked fair play: "We can decide to support or not some opponents but we must respect all athletes. "
Would they have been heard? On the podium, the yellow jersey, the Welsh Geraint Thomas, was more applauded than hissed after this stage of transition leading into the Rhone Valley and concluded with a mbadive sprint in favor of Sagan.
Without a lot of opponents, the Slovak added a third pearl to his 2018 collection, after La Roche-sur-Yon (2nd stage) and Sarzeau (4th stage). His eleventh stage success in the Tour since his debut in 2012.
"Sagan is on top," acknowledged Frenchman Arnaud Démare, third behind world champion and European champion, Norway's Alexander Kristoff
– A recovery stage –
It is true that two winners of the first week's sprints, Colombian Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen of the Netherlands, two stages for each of them, left the race in the Alps. As well as other specialists (Greipel, Kittel, Cavendish …) in a hecatomb rarely seen on contemporary towers.
Sagan, the strongest of sprinters when the road rises, undoubtedly suffered less than his opponents in the mountains, according to the explanations of Démare. From where an additional freshness which allowed him to go up the French, the first to launch the sprint after an attempt of the Belgian Philippe Gilbert under the red flame, and Kristoff.
In the last 25 meters, Sagan was timed to 69.9 km / h. A little faster than Kristoff (69.8 km / h) and Démare (68.4 km / h).
"It was a golden stage", agreed the winner of the day, who did not appear in the least destabilized by his separation from his wife Kataryna, announced during the Tour.
"All world was back to business after the mountain and it was at the same time a recovery stage, "said the Slovak. "I thought I was a little late 600 meters from the line but I took Kristoff's wheel and it was the right one."
Sagan has obviously reinforced a green jersey which is acquired for the sixth time (he would equal the record of Erik Zabel) if he rallies Paris.
– The battle of Mende –
"It is incredible, it is a phenomenon, it has almost three times more points than the others", commented at the microphone of France Televisions the British Chris Froome by forcing some few figures (398 points for Sagan, 170 for Kristoff).
The quadruple winner of the Tour, second in the general clbadification at 1:39 of Thomas, spoke mainly about the upcoming arrival in Mende.
"We can have some small differences between the favorites, "he said, remembering the final of the 2015 Tour and the victory of the British Steve Cummings (ahead of Pinot and Bardet). "It would be nice to impose but it's not easy."
Saturday, the 14th stage, 188 kilometers from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, crosses the Cevennes to reach Mende. The finish is judged on the plateau of the aerodrome, 1500 meters after the end of the rise of the New Cross (3 km at 10.2% slope), also called climb Laurent Jalabert.
"The last I was not too bad at Mende, "Thomas recalled. "I remember it was a very difficult three-kilometer coast, a ten-minute effort, I'll do it all the way."
"There will be another battle at the top of the wall in Mende," said Bardet, 5th in the standings. Tom Dumoulin, the Dutchman who is the first non-Sky (3rd), has also promised: "If I have an opportunity, I'll grab it."
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