Icon: enlarge
Maximilian Schachmann was one of the dramatic figures of this 13th stage
Photo: Benoit Tessier / AP
The last kilometer:
Mountain arrivals at the Tour de France are sometimes referred to as executioners with a slight bloodthirstiness, this last kilometer was definitely it.
After 190 kilometers up and down through the Massif Central, the top trio, which consisted of the Colombian Daniel Martínez and the two Germans Max Schachmann and Lennard Kämna from the Bora-hansgrohe team, went up again with a ten percent gradient.
A brutal climb that first fell victim to Schachmann and then Kämna in the final sprint.
A German stage win at the 2020 Tour de France has never been so close.
Result of the stage:
This 13th stage from Chatel-Guyon to Puy Mary with seven mountain ratings was a classic tour drama, especially in the final phase - the strain was written on the drivers' faces.
How runaway Schachmann was caught up to a kilometer from the finish, how he tried to hold on and then had to let it go, was a deeply pathetic moment.
There was also a possible preliminary decision: Of all the favorites, the two Slovenes Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar came over the mountains best and took away important seconds from the competition, especially defending champion Egan Bernal.
You can read the live coverage of the stage here.
The stage report can be found here.
The third in the league:
Everyone at the Tour de France talks about the Pyrenees and the Alps as the great challenges.
But anyone who does that has never been on a bike in the Massiv Central.
Inclines, descents without a break, no chance to relax, poisonous climbs - that is the Auvergne around the Puy de Dome.
As if made for a merciless elimination race, as was the case on Friday.
Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor once fought their legendary elbow duel here.
Country and people:
The incomparable Sandrine Bonnaire, the Formula 1 racing driver Patrick Depailler and, speaking of motorsport, Lolo Ferrari come from Clermont-Ferrand, the capital of the region.
Pope Urban II called from here to the crusade, and here is the headquarters of the Michelin group.
The Michelin man is an Arverni.
Exactly, the opposite is the region of "Asterix and the Arvernerschild".
To call one of the drivers Gaius Faulus that day after these efforts would be really unworthy.
The day of Bora:
Maximilian Schachmann and Lennart Kämna drove up early in a 17-man escape group, which at times had more than ten minutes ahead of the main field.
Then Schachmann ran away, followed by Martínez and Kämna.
An ideal starting position for the German team, but with one flaw: Martínez is Colombian and therefore always has an advantage on the mountain.
Nevertheless: After captain Emanuel Buchmann has nothing more to order in the overall ranking, it was the best Bora day of the tour so far.
Drivers from nine nations have won stages in the Tour so far, Germany is not yet one of them.
Not the day of France:
Romain Bardet, who had finished fourth up to that point, comes from Auvergne, the stage is painted for him - and what happens?
He and Dutchman Bauke Mollema crash in a curve 100 kilometers from the finish.
Bardet can continue to drive, but has to tear down on the last mountains.
Even Guillaume Martin, third in the overall ranking and the philosopher in the peloton, can no longer keep up in the end.
Loosely based on his great role model Nietzsche: If you go to the top of the mountain, don't forget your whip.
It will probably not work again with a French tour victory.
The skiing and cycling
nation
:
Roglic, the former ski jumper, was able to keep pace on the final ascent, a pace set by his compatriot Pogacar.
In the overall standings, two Slovenes are now in first and second place.
So far, this has only been possible in winter sports.
After Tina Maze, Ilks Stuhec, Bojan Krizaj and Peter Prevc, Slovenia now has two new sport superstars.
The city, the rubbish and death:
on Saturday it's far less strenuous down to Lyon.
How long the city will be a stage destination is open.
The mayor has already complained that the tour produces too much rubbish, the entourage has become too big, and if that doesn't change, Lyon will no longer apply for stages in the future.
That's why Bordeaux has been doing without it for years.
It is not just Corona that is causing problems for the tour.
Icon: The mirror