Swiss rider Schmid wins longest stage of the Tour de France – Pidcock moves up to fourth place

Pidcock climbs six places

The group around race leader Tadej Pogacar in the yellow jersey reached the finish 7:32 minutes behind Schmid. Pogacar, the four-time overall winner from Slovenia (UAE Emirates-XRG), continues to lead the general classification with a 3:36-minute advantage over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Pidcock, the two-time Olympic mountain bike champion, made a big jump forward in the general classification and now sits fourth overall, 4:15 minutes behind Pogacar. This reignites the battle for second and third place. Lipowitz's teammate Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) lies third, just over four minutes behind the Slovenian.

Pogacar stays in yellow

German rider Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who finished third overall last year, is seventh with a 4:44-minute deficit. Pogacar's teammate Felix Großschartner sits 42nd overall (+1:15:49), while Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling) is 159th overall.

At the Ballon d'Alsace, a nine-kilometer first-category climb whose summit was reached 30 kilometers from the finish, the decisive move failed to materialize despite numerous attacks. It wasn't until just over 50 kilometers into the stage that the race situation stabilized.

Breakaway riders shape the race

Behind a large breakaway group at the front, another group formed with an eye on the green jersey's sprint classification 68 kilometers from the finish. After a long and intense chase, they managed to rejoin. One of them was Michael Matthews, who finished the stage in 13th place.

Before the Ballon d'Alsace, Schmid had shown respect for the climb. «Wenn ich ehrlich bin, habe ich daran gezweifelt, ob ich diesen Berg mit den Besten überqueren kann», said the 26-year-old about the day's main obstacle. «Nach Krämpfen habe ich am Schluss wieder meine Beine gefunden und es durchgezogen», said the stage winner.

Schmid is part of a contingent of riders starting for Team Jayco AlUla. «Wir wollten mit so vielen Fahrern wie möglich in der Spitzengruppe sein», said a representative of the Australian squad, which placed a quartet in the breakaway group that grew to as many as 56 riders.

Historic success for Switzerland

The stage victory is a historic success for Switzerland. In 2012, a rider from Bern celebrated the eighth and most recent Swiss stage win at the «Grande Boucle». Over the following 14 years, only Marc Hirschi managed another stage victory in 2020. «Ein bisschen feiern werden wir schon, denn unser Hotel liegt nur 10 Minuten vom Ziel entfernt», said Schmid.

Preview of the 14th stage

The battle for the yellow jersey continues on Saturday with the 14th stage. Over the 155.3-kilometer route with 3,800 meters of elevation gain, riders face three first-category climbs and one second-category climb. The course runs between Mulhouse and the finish at Le Markstein Fellering – a place that Vingegaard likely remembers well, as Le Markstein hosted the penultimate stage of the 2023 Tour, where the Dane cemented his second and so far only Tour triumph.

The weekend features two tough mountain challenges. The 14th stage covers 155.3 kilometers from Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering, while the 15th stage on Sunday runs 166.6 kilometers from Aurillac to Le Lioran. Both courses involve significant elevation and pose risks for the favorites.

Looking ahead, Pidcock is unlikely to be able to keep pace with the pure GC specialists. Nevertheless, the Briton proved with his third-place finish that he can hold his own in the mountains. The peloton containing the favorites such as Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar and the second-placed Dane Jonas Vingegaard lost 7:30 minutes to Pidcock, who jumped six places in the general classification.

General classification after 13 stages

The general classification after 13 of 21 stages is led by Pogacar (47:18:31), followed by Vingegaard (+3:36), Evenepoel (+4:06), Pidcock (+4:15), Maxim van Gils, Juan Ayuso (+4:22), Kevin Vauquelin, Florian Lipowitz (+4:44), Jordan Jegat, Isaac del Toro (+5:08), Mattias Skjelmose (+5:45), and Tim Wellens. Further back follow Clement Braz Afonso, Brandon McNulty, Lenny Martinez, Luke Plapp, and Paul Seixas.

Friday's stage was defined by a large breakaway group that formed early in the race. It wasn't until around 50 kilometers in that the race situation stabilized, as the escapees were able to build their lead over the peloton. The favorites in the main field controlled the tempo without making any serious attempts to close the gap to the breakaway.

With Schmid's stage victory, a dry spell ends for Switzerland at the Tour de France. Following the eighth and final Swiss stage win in 2012 and Marc Hirschi's success in 2020, this marks the third stage victory by a Swiss rider in the past 14 years. For Schmid personally, it is the biggest success of his career and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

The 113th Tour de France still has eight more stages to go before the finale on the Champs-Élysées on July 26. After the two mountain stages this weekend, the race features an individual time trial, two more mountain stages, and the traditional closing stage in Paris.