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By Julien Pretot
PUY MARY, France (Reuters) - Primoz Roglic tightened his grip on
the Tour de France's overall lead as he dropped defending
champion Egan Bernal in the final ascent of a gruelling 13th
stage in the Massif Central on Friday.
Colombian Dani Martinez prevailed from the breakaway at the end
of a punishing 191.5-km trek from Chatel-Guyon before the big
guns battled it out in the finale of the short, yet brutal climb
up to the Puy de Mary, where the average gradient rose above
11%.
Ineos-Grenadiers' Colombian leader Bernal, who fares better on
longer ascents, could not sustain the pace when Tadej Pogacar
accelerated, with fellow Slovenian Roglic the only rider able to
follow.
The duo crossed the line 38 seconds ahead of a grimacing Bernal,
who slipped to third in the general classification, 59 seconds
off the pace.
The 21-year-old Pogacar, the most aggressive of the main
contenders who was already the best man in the Pyrenees last
weekend, is now second, 44 seconds behind Roglic.
"The Tour is not finished yet, there is still a lot of things
that can happen, a lot of riders are still in the mix," said
Roglic.
Eight riders are still within two minutes but Roglic has been
the most impressive, never losing his cool despite Pogacar's
repeated onslaughts.
"I don't want to bother looking at names and comparing myself
with others. I'll continue to focus on myself," said Vuelta
champion Roglic.
FRENCH HOPES END
Bernal saw Roglic and Pogacar fade in the distance as his face
turned into a mask of pain in the last two kilometres of the
ascent to the Puy Mary.
The Colombian collapsed on his bike after the finish, mumbling:
"I looked at my numbers, they're good, the others are just
better."
Bernal will now have to throw everything in the biggest battle
of this year's Tour, the 17th stage, which finishes in Meribel
2,304 metres above sea level atop the Col de la Loze, an
unforgiving 21.5-km climb at an average gradient of 7.8%.
Friday’s stage signalled the end of French hopes as Romain
Bardet, who started the day in fourth place overall 30 seconds
off the pace, ended up 2:30 behind Roglic and had to pull out
after the 2016 runner-up took a heavy tumble earlier.
The AG2R-La Mondiale rider crashed on a descent and quickly got
back on his bike, but had to sit down again because of a bout of
dizziness.
Bardet’s AG2R La Mondiale team later said that the Frenchman had
to pull out of the race after suffering a concussion.
Guillaume Martin, third overall at the start, cracked in the
penultimate climb and crossed the line 2:46 after Roglic.
Martin is now just outside the top 10, 3:14 behind Roglic.
Martinez, who featured among the dark horses before the start in
Nice after winning the Criterium du Dauphine but lost all hopes
in the first week, outsprinted Lennard Kamna for the stage win.
Kamna's Bora-Hansgrohe team mate and fellow German Maximilian
Schachmann took third place.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Catherine Evans, Ken
Ferris and Toby Davis)
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