As it happened: Kwiatkowski solos to victory on Tour de France stage 13

Happy Bastille Day and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France!

The riders are completing sign-ons and the team presentation in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne ahead of the start of the 137.8km route that finishes atop the Grand Colombier.

Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) has received a great cheer from the crowd before stage 13 of his final Tour de France.

As is commonplace on Bastille Day at the Tour, there should be an almighty effort by most French riders to try and get into the break of the day. The last French rider to win the Bastille Day Tour de France stage was Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) in 2017, could today see the next French winner?

Here's another look at the day's profile with the hors catégorie Grand Colombier hosting the summit finish. 

Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) is assessing his aims for the day. If he can slip into a breakaway and re-find the climbing form that saw him win a stage at the Tour de Suisse, he could be a real threat for the stage win. 

Biggest cheer so far goes to, unsurprisingly, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ). The fan-favourite will be desperate to make it into the break and showed he is in strong form yesterday with a sixth-place finish. 

Simon Yates could play a big role in the day's finale and currently sits seventh overall.

We're just under half an hour away from the neutralised start of stage 13 in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has just made his way to the stage. We're expecting to see the next round of his battle vs Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) today and the rest of the weekend should provide more of the same with two further mountainous tests.

Barry Ryan has put together a great preview of today's stage and for the two that arrive after it on what should be a race-defining weekend. Read it below.

Tight margins, endless permutations – New phase in Vingegaard vs Pogacar duel

Tony Gallopin (Lidl-Trek) is riding his final Tour de France, but will always have the memory of wearing the yellow jersey on Bastille Day during the 2014 race.

The riders are making their way to the start line in preparation for another day of racing in the sunshine.

Here's Pogačar and his typical hair tuft sticking out, ready for a big day of battle on the Grand Colombier. He won atop this summit in the 2020 race ahead of Primož Roglič and will be confident in repeating the feat. 

Stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France is underway!

There are just over four kilometres of neutralised riding before the flag is dropped and the racing proper gets started. The crowds at the start in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne were fantastic as expected on Bastille Day. 

Keep your eye on all the French riders once Christian Prudhomme waves the flag as they will all want to be in the break on this huge day for France.  

Front wheel change for Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost).

137KM TO GO

Here we go! We're ready to go with Amador back in and the flag drops at kilometre zero.

Lotto-Dstny are straight into a tandem attack with Campenaerts and Eenkhoorn. A trio of Uno-X riders are bridging across as we are above 50km/h already on the flat start. 

There's a lot of interest obviously, but the pack will continue to swell with so many adamant on being in the break. French teams all towards the front. 

It's the TGV de Clermont-Ferrand, Rémi Cavagna, on the front now with Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferrin (TotalEnergies) with him. 

Esteban Chavez (EF Education-EasyPost) has been bridged across with Bettiol to help him, this will be the blueprint for all teams to get into the break as on such a flat start, any climber will want a rouleur to help them and drive a group away. 

130KM TO GO

Mechanical for Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) in the French national champion's jersey. An unfortunate start for the man in the tricolour. 

Here's how close our two likely protagonists for the day were on the start line. Will Pogačar and Vingegaard be separated by much more of a distance atop the day's summit finish?

Some of Cofidis' team are wearing lovely French tricolour helmets on Bastille Day.  

125KM TO GO

TotalEnergies have incredibly active in the opening 10km, launching nearly every rider on their team at least once, the latest of which is Pierre Latour who was runner-up on the Puy de Dôme. 

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was pacing for Mattias Skjelmose before the bunch again swelled. Both attacked non-stop in the opening of yesterday's stage, so for either to have anything left is incredibly impressive. 

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) launched Cavagna into the next one of his attacks. The Belgian team are yet to have any success at this 2023 race.

Cavagna is joined by Ineos duo, Fraile and Castroviejo, Magnus Cort (EF Education EasyPost), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and British national champion, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious). 

120KM TO GO

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) has two Israel-Premier Tech riders in his wheel as he tries to bridge this gap. The elastic hasn't yet snapped and we continue to race at over 50km/h. 

We momentarily came all back together, but a new group of leaders has formed at the front: Pacher, Oliveira, Van Gils and Teunissen. 

This small group did have a 13 second advantage, but there is now a huge chasing group trying to bridge the gap. 

This huge group at the front has a growing advantage. If they work together they should be able to make it stick. 

110KM TO GO

It looks as though the peloton is calming down now and may be letting this be the break of the day. Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) is making one final effort to try and give Pacher some support in the lead group. 

Scratch that, were lined out again the peloton. Some teams have clearly missed this and don't want to give up the fight yet. The peloton is 21 seconds behind now and our lead group appears to be working well. 

Coquard is all alone in this 23 second gap and making a last ditch effort. It would be miraculous if he could somehow bridge this gap. 

The peloton is now 1:03 and the break has truly formed. Coquard is stuck 40 seconds back and shouldn't make it. 

Here is one of Bettiol's first attacks, he's made it into the eventual break of the day alongside teammate James Shaw. 

105KM TO GO

UAE Team Emirates immediately come to the break with their rouleurs, they clearly mean business. Bjerg and Laengen are towards the front and ready to try control this break. 

Pogačar obviously wants the stage win and the bonus seconds, but this effort will require his whole team to drive themselves into the ground before the final climb. Is trying to pull back this huge back worth it?

The gap is stable for now close to 1:30 as the teams behind try to grab a musette and have their lunch with the break finally away. 

100KM TO GO

The peloton is strung out a long way down the road all for this desire to win the stage. 

A look as the day's break is led by Mohorič.

UAE are really working at this with their three better-suited riders on flat terrain, Bjerg, Laengen and Trentin swapping turns on the front. As the foot of the climb arrives 17.4km from the finish, it should be a more manageable effort than if today were a 200km stage. 

Astana Qazaqstan have done a great job to get Harold Tejada into the break with Cees Bol as flat support. The team have had a very unlucky start to the 2023 race having lost three riders in Mark Cavendish, Luis Leon Sanchez and David de la Cruz all to crashes and injuries. 

Current order in the peloton is UAE on the front with their roulers, Bora-Hansgrohe, Ineos Grenadiers, Pogačar and his climbing support, Jayco AlUla then Jumbo-Visma and the yellow jersey, Vingegaard. 

90KM TO GO

The peloton is starting to slowly close the gap with it now down to 1:20. 

Very windy conditions out on the road now, blowing across the riders. 

52km/h average speed after just over an hour of racing, the peloton is by no means hanging around. 

UAE giving everything today for their superstar rider, Pogačar.

80KM TO GO

The break to the gap is stable at 1:30. The break are working well, but just aren't being given enough leeway to try and fight for the stage win. 

Bike change for Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and it's obviously a planned one. He got off his white aero Merida bike for the fast, flat start and has got onto his black lightweight climbing bike which he'll want for the summit finish. 

70KM TO GO

The man in yellow clearly isn't scared of Pogačar, but all the talking will be done on the inclines of the Grand Colombier. 

Gap for the break has extended out towards the two minute mark which still isn't going to be enough to win atop the summit finish, especially without a pure climber in the move. 

Our 19 escapees are working together nicely so far to give themselves the best chance. Slightly surprising to only see three French riders in there: Pacher, Latour and Petit. 

60KM TO GO

Pogačar and his main climbing domestique, Majka. 

The leaders are on the early slopes of the uncategorised Col de la Lèbe now. It has very manageable gradients averaging around 3%, but is over 15km in length.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) has just gone out the back of the peloton. He had to fight the time cut yesterday with only De Buyst as help. He'll hopefully get some help from his team before they reach the foot of the final climb. 

Caleb Ewan survives Tour de France time cut but sprinters fear the Alps

55KM TO GO

The break to have lost motivation with UAE's earlier push putting them off trying fully. 

Some of the heavier riders are dropping on the inclines: Bol and Petit. 

UAE have pulled back 30 seconds on the opening half of this uncategorised climb. Mohorič and Asgreen have sensed the danger and started driving the pace to try and split the break into a more manageable size. 

Laengen's work is done, leaving only Bjerg and Trentin to work on the front, but they will have a long downhill section after this uncategorised climb which will make their job easier.

50KM TO GO

Teunissen takes the intermediate sprint points and cash prize ahead of Mohorič in second who pushes on. 

We've seen Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) all alone at the back of the race. He's apparently suffering from stomach problems and has little energy to stay in the bunch. Hopefully he can survive the time cut and recover overnight.

Ewan has only just passed the intermediate sprint point, a long way down on Turner and the peloton. 

The break are closing in on the peak of the uncategorised Col de la Lèbe and will start the descent into the valley that precede the Grand Colombier. Will Mohorič try and attack the descent?

40KM TO GO

The break's current advantage of 3:08 won't be enough on the final climb, but if they can extend it on this descent and into the valley, they someone with great legs may have a very slim chance of making it. 

Latour is majorly struggling on the descent. He should get back on, but this is energy he won't want to waste. 

EF and Intermaché are using their numerical advantage well in the breakaway. 

UAE Team Emirates have now established full control at the head of the peloton with their wheel team keeping Pogačar safe while also trying to keep the gap close enough. It's now 3:39. 

30K TO GO

Latour is well dropped now at 40 seconds in arrears. 

With our summit finish approaching, here's a look at the profile of our finale climb. Hardest sections arrive at the start with a brutal opening 8 kilometres and despite a few sections of respite in the middle, the final ramp also tops out at over 12%.

Caleb Ewan has abandoned the 2023 Tour de France. He'd been sat at the back alone after dropping on our first uncategorised climb.

20KM TO GO

Grand Colombier incoming. 3km to the foot of the climb. 

The other GC teams are starting to come to the fore alongside UAE with Ineos, Jumbo, Bahrain and AG2R now at the front. The latter will be working for Gall who can climb with the very best on his day. 

This will take a miraculous effort from someone in the break if they are to hold off the charging peloton behind. 

EF have taken up the mantle on the front and told both their riders in the break to 'grit their teeth' as the hardest slopes come at the bottom of the climb. 

You would think this was the run into a sprint finish with the peloton motoring along to hold good position once the climb starts. Ineos are best positioned for the moment. 

Asgreen and Teunissen dropped straight away. 

Attack Quentin Pacher! Vive la France.

Ineos hit the front for Rodríguez and Pidcock, they are either feeling great or are just worried about positioning. 

15KM TO GO

UAE's rouleurs have competed their tasks and their climbing contingent are now coming to the front. Laengen has revived himself for one last pull before Großschartner, Soler, Majka and Yates take over. 

Politt hits the front in aid of Hindley. At the front, Pacher is giving everything on Bastille Day hoping that the incredible French crowds will spur him on to victory. 

Vingegaard is sat further back on Pogačar's wheel and the duo will need to come to the front with such big crowds on the road that will cause the path to narrow as they climb. 

Only Van Gils, Tejada and Shaw are still within 15 seconds of our lone leader as the peloton battle with flares and smoke further down the mountain. 

Will Vingegaard be able to live with Pogačar's inevitable explosive attack? We're about to find out as the climb continues. His team have been absent all day and letting UAE do all the work. 

13KM TO GO

Gap to the break is holding at 3:48 for now with Pacher still only 8 seconds ahead of his pursuers. 

We're going through the beautiful switchbacks on this climb with a wall of noise spurring on the riders on each corner. 

Kwiatkowski is pacing himself nicely behind and appears to be closing in on the leaders. Pacher has been caught as Van Gils goes!

Shaw and Tejada are close behind, but our last Frenchman, Pacher,  is dropped. 

Ben O'Connor dropped. It hasn't been his year at the 2023 Tour de France. Soler pacing on the front for UAE. Bernal also dropped too. 

The break have got a good chance now with the gap at 3:37. We do know, however, that either Pogačar or Vingegaard could melt that advantage very quickly if they fully launch. 

Kwiatkowski has caught and attacked the trio that were leading. The former World Champion has been great at this Tour and on the attack in breakaways non-stop. 

Kelderman dropped already, that's a big surprise for Jumbo-Visma. 

11KM TO GO

Kwiatkowski has 13 seconds over the chasers for now after his well paced opening 6km of the climb. If he can get over this hardest sector, he'll get a small chance of recovery on a flat section.

Nice move from the Ineos rider.

Kwiatkowski is flying away from the trio behind him with a gap now of 38 seconds as he goes over the flatter section. Soler is still turning himself inside-out for his leader before Großschartner takes over and pushes the pace again. 

Bardet has been dropped already under the pressure of UAE. 

Take a look at the Grand Colombier in all its glory below. 

8KM TO GO

We ramp up again to 12% gradient with around 6km to go, but once Kwiatkowski passes that he will find the slopes easing somewhat, albeit to averages still of 7%, which could help him find an incredible victory. 

Soler pulls over and now we get the best climbers in UAE's team. There are nods between Großschartner and Majka agreeing that it's time to go and win the stage. Kwiatkowski is holding them off brilliantly for now still 3:13 ahead. 

Pinot, Buchmann both dropped. 

Martin is also dropped as UAE ramp the pace up even more. Landa also struggling off the back.

6KM TO GO

Kwiatkowski is looking brilliant at the head of the race with a 2:36 lead still over the peloton. Can Pogačar or Vingegaard close that much time in the final few kilometres?

Großschartner, Majka, Yates and then Pogačar, that is the order of UAE with Vingegaard close behind. he only has Kuss with him. 

The gap to Kiwatkowski is falling - now at 2:18. Pogačar is marshalling the troops to try and capture this stage win. 

Majka moves up in the peloton with Yates behind him and UAE continue to drive things. They've worked all day long for this, but Kwiatkowski is still posted at 2:20 in front. 

4KM TO GO

If this gap is correct, Kwiatkowski is in a fantastic place to take this stage win. He has to maintain his effort though as the final ramp is brutal. 

Majka gets out of the saddle now and ups the pace again. We're entering the final phase of this stage. We've still got a big group of GC riders in here though as the inclines may not be hard enough. 

The gap is holding to Kwiatkowski above two minutes.

Kwiatkowski is splitting the huge crowds and is closing in on an amazing stage victory.

2KM TO GO

Yates goes! Kuss goes after him and Pogačar and Vingegaard are close behind. 

We're all back together now after that small attack. 

Yates is now doing the leadout for Pogačar in the finale. Kuss is in between the UAE duo for now, however. Pidcock and Hindley are back onto the four. Simon Yates and Rodriguez are the only others able to follow. 

1KM TO GO

Flamme rouge for Kwiatkowski, he's got some tough gradients ahead of him, but should have this! What a ride from the Pole.

The bonus seconds are all going to disappear up the road. UAE's tactics haven't paid off. 

STAGE FINISH

Michał Kwiatkowski wins stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France atop the Grand Colombier!

Behind Pogacar goes! he explodes out of the group with Vingegaard close behind him. The Dane is holding on as they fly past remnants of the break.

Pogačar drops him and he's going to get some bonus seconds, ignore what I said before - what an acceleration. It's around a seven second gain with that final charge to the line as Van Gils hung on for second. Wow.

It won't be yellow, but Pogačar's done well to salvage some time gain after failing to reel in the break. 

Pidcock and Rodríguez share a nice embrace with Kwiatkowski after a fine day for Ineos Grenadiers. 

Here's our stage winner, Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers). He has showed excellent from in the 2023 Tour, back to his World Championship winning best from nearly a decade ago. What a stage win for the Polish rider. 

Here's what stage winner Kwiatkowski had to say after the stage:

"Not alone, I had 18 friends in the breakaway, yeah obviously I had a nice advantage on the final climb, but it was a crazy experience, to be honest. When I entered the breakaway I though this is just a free ticket to maybe the bottom of the climb, but I never thought this group will kind of fight for the stage win because UAE were pulling pretty hard in the back. But to be honest it's not easy to I guess chase 19 guys rotating on the flat for more than 100 kilometres."

"We just didn't want to miss any big breakaway. Every day we were pretty much trying to go in the big moves because you never really know when people are moving on the flat who will actually enter that breakaway, maybe someone from the GC, maybe no one will be happy to chase. Today was UAE, but I think they just let too many guys in the front and I just found probably the best legs I ever had in my life."

I didn't believe that was possible, but here I am."

"Winning on top of the mountain like this on Grand Colombier, obviously I had memories here with Egan Bernal [in 2020] here kind of thinking about quitting the race and unfortunately he did later on so that was bad memories for us, but then with Richard [Carapaz] that was also different. That was like full gas racing from the start to the finish and in the end, we could enjoy the last 15 kilometres together, but today was just like - the last effort was probably one of the hardest in my life, but I managed myself well, paced myself well and knew that was going to be a very long effort."

Pogačar's late surge to the line gained him another 8 seconds in the GC battle vs Vingegaard, with that gap at the top now only 0:09. Bilbao was the big loser on GC, dropping two places to seventh and losing 45 seconds to his rivals for the top five.

The current GC standings at the 2023 Tour de France after stage 13

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) had another great day in his GC campaign as he finished fifth on the day behind our two breakaway survivors, Pogačar and Vingegaard, here's what he said after stage 13:

"I think Bastille Day should be renamed Ineos day," Pidcock joked in reference to the British team winning on Bastille Day two years in a row. "Two pretty iconic climbs, two wins, it's pretty special."

"It's especially funny because we were at one point talking about Kwiato coming back to help us position into the final climb because UAE weren't giving the break any time and then he wins the stage so it always happens on the day you least expect it and it's super nice because I've spent basically the whole time with him preparing for this race in Tenerife, Suisse and now here so I know how hard he's been working and how much this will mean to him. It's really nice to see."

"I think it's actually easier now that I can ride in the front group because you ride so fats, the steep bits don't feel quite so bad. When you ride slow they feel worse. I think I did quite a good ride myself."

Its a 17k climb and he [Pogačar] just rode the end like it was a bunch sprint. I was probably doing 700 or something, so God knows what he [Pogačar]was doing."

A look back at the eventually race-winning move from Kwiatkowski.

Today's stage was just the first of a trio of mountain stages that conclude the second week at the 2023 Tour de France. Next up is a 151.8km stage that is up and down all the way to the line in Morzine Les Portes du Soleil. There are three categorised climbs in the opening 52km of racing, two of which are category 1, before another 50km from the finish. 

The day's racing will be decided, however, on the Col de Joux Plane and its descent. The Joux Plane is 11.6km at 8.5% and could see more GC action than today with four climbs already in the legs. If anyone crests it solo, they will have to hold off the chasers on a 12km descent to the line which is fast and technical but does have new safety measures as implemented by ASO in agreement with the CPA. 

Kwiatkowski spent a long period of his career working as a domestique in respective Team Sky and Ineos trains for Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, after an early career period that saw him win the World Championships. At 33, he's been able to maintain his form and attack breakaways in the 2023 Tour and achieve an incredible victory atop the Grand Colombier. Chapeau Michał. He now has two Tour de France stage wins on his decorated palmares that includes a duo of wins at both Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race and a monument victory at Milan-Sanremo.

Make sure to read Stephen Farrand's great race report from stage 13 which includes a gallery from the day's action and also to look out for all the biggest news coming out of the race from our team on the ground. 

Tour de France: Kwiatkowski wins stage 13 on Grand Colombier as Pogacar closes in on yellow

That wraps things up for Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 13 of the Tour de France won by Ineos' Michał Kwiatkowski. Check back tomorrow for live coverage of the 14th stage as Pogačar and Vingegaard go to battle again.