Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) has won stage 13 of the 2012 Tour de France, his third of this year’s race.
The German powerhouse won a bunch sprint by the narrowest of margins from Slovak rival, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), the holder of the green jersey.
Greipel said victory at the end of the rolling, 217km stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Le Cap d’Agde had given him ambitions for the Olympic road race and Milan-San Remo.
“This morning we had naturally talked a bit about a stage win, but I didn’t know if I would survive the little climb,” said Greipel.
“When that succeeds you’re very happy of course. I was obliged to win, otherwise my teammates would probably have been disappointed after all that work.
“At the moment all focus lies on the Tour. There might come other chances and obviously I’m looking forward to Champs Elysées.”
Third place went to Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, largely due to the work of his teammate, the race leader, Bradley Wiggins.
The maillot jaune led out his young, but accomplished teammate, who won two stages of last year’s Tour.
Team Sky’s general manager, Dave Brailsford, said the team had planned to ride for Boasson Hagen at the finish.
“Bradley found himself in that position with Edvald on his wheel and I think that was a bit of pay back to give him the opportunity for the stage win. It was nice to see.
“We didn’t win the stage but the important thing was to set Eddy up and give him the opportunity. If he’d had the legs then fantastic, but it was a nice gesture and probably a little bit of thanks for all the work Eddy has been doing in the mountains all week,” he said.
Stage 13 marked another successful day on the Tour for Team Sky, whose efforts in closing down attacks from Cadel Evans and his BMC team-mates ensured Wiggins’ two minute and five second lead over team-mate, Chris Froome, remained undented.
Froome’s second place overall was also protected, but he remains just 18 seconds ahead of third-placed, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
Tomorrow’s 191km stage from Limoux to Foix will take the riders over three Pyrenean climbs, including the first category climbs of the Port de Lers and the Mur de Peguere.
Result
1) André Greipel (GER) – Lotto-Belisol – 4.57.59
2) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Liquigas-Cannondale
3) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – Team Sky
4) Sébastien Hinault (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale
5) Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
6) Julien Simon (FRA) – Saur-Sojasun
7) Marco Marcato (ITA) – Vacansoleil-DCM
8) Philippe Gilbert (BEL) – BMC Racing
9) Peter Velits (SVK) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep
10) Danilo Hondo (GER) Lampre – ISD
General classification
1) Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – Team Sky – 59.32.32
2) Christopher Froome (GBR) – Team Sky +2.05
3)Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +2.23
4) Cadel Evans (AUS) – BMC Racing +3.19
5) Jurgen Van Den Broeck (BEL) – Lotto Belisol +4.48
6) Haimar Zubeldia (SPA) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek + 6.15
7) Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing +6.57
8) Janez Brajkovic (SLO) Astana +7.30
9) Pierre Rolland (FRA) – Europcar +8.31
10) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ-Big Mat +8.51
