TEAM Sky’s Chris Froome came sixth in stage 13 of the Tour de France to keep the overall lead as Greg van Avermaet stunned Peter Sagan in a sprint finish.Belgian van Avermaet held off Slovakia’s Sagan on the line to win the 198.5km leg from Muret to Rodez.
Early breakaway riders Thomas de Gendt, Wilco Kelderman and Cyril Gautier were caught with 200 metres remaining.
Britain’s Froome, 30, remains two minutes and 52 seconds ahead of second-placed Tejay van Garderen.
American van Garderen, who finished 10th but with the same time as Froome, had few opportunities to make up ground on the yellow jersey holder on a stage that lacked drama until the final minutes.
Froome, having showed his resilience in the previous stage by holding off attacks from his general classification rivals, had a more straightforward time in the peloton on a day when temperatures of up to 35C proved the most troubling factor for riders.
The steep finish on today’s 178.5km route to Mende may offer slight grounds for optimism to Froome’s prospective GC contenders.
“We already saw on a 500m climb like today gaps opening up, so tomorrow on a climb like Mende at 3km and more than 10%, I definitely think the general classification guys will be fighting to gain time,” said Froome.
Stage 13 came agonisingly close to being won by a breakaway rider, but Belgian De Gendt, Dutchman Kelderman and France’s Gautier, having led the field for the whole day, were overhauled by the peloton on the streets of Rodez with the finish line in sight.
The final incline allowed the peloton to catch them with BMC rider van Avermaet, 30, claiming his first Tour stage win by finishing stronger than Sagan, who has not won a Tour stage in two years.
The result takes Tinkoff-Saxo rider Sagan’s number of second-place finishes in his Tour career to 15, compared with just four victories.
Sagan, 25, who keeps hold of the green points jersey, told ITV4: “It’s not about luck. It was my mistake for waiting too long.
Leaderboard
1. Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky 51hrs 34mins 21secs
2. Tejay van Garderen (US) BMC Racing +2mins 52secs
3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar +3mins 9secs
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar +3mins 58secs
5. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky +4mins 3secs