Andre Greipel wins Stage 13 of Tour de France

Stage 13: A 135-mile, mainly flat ride from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to the Mediterranean seaside resort of Le Cap D’Agde. It featured a short but incredibly steep Mont Saint-Clair climb just 14 miles from the finish that eliminated top sprinters such as Mark Cavendish, Matt Goss and Tyler Farrar from the pack contending for the win.

Winner: Andre Greipel of Germany. The Lotto-Belisol sprinter scored his third stage win of the Tour by beating a pack that included all the top overall contenders, including yellow jersey holder Bradley Wiggins of Britain. Slovakia’s Peter Sagan took second and Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen was third, after an unusual yellow jersey lead-out by his teammate Wiggins.

Yellow jersey: Wiggins retained the race lead ahead of Sky teammate Chris Froome, who is 2 minutes 5 seconds behind. Italian climber Vincenzo Nibali is third, 2:23 off the pace.

Stat of the day: 64. The points lead Sagan holds in the top sprinter’s green-jersey competition over second-place Greipel. Sagan is looking to become the first rider since 1990 to win the green jersey in his maiden Tour.

Quote of the day: “Sometimes I think for certain people, whatever you do will never be enough unless they came and lived with me for 12 months, which I’m not prepared for them to do, certainly not with Paul Kimmage.� — Bradley Wiggins, in response to a question about whether he would be open to a suggestion by Irish journalist Kimmage that he release his blood passport data as a way of showing he does not engage in doping.

Sunday’s 14th stage: A 119-mile ride into the Pyrenees mountains between Limoux and Foix. The route takes riders over three categorized climbs including two Category-1 climbs, the Port de Lers and the Mur de Peguere, whose summit comes almost 29 miles from the finish.

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Stage 13 results

1. Andre Greipel, Germany, 4:57: 59

2. Peter Sagan, Slovakia, same time.

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norway, same time.

4. Sebastien Hinault, France, same time.

5. Daryl Impey, South Africa, same time.

Overall standings

1. Bradley Wiggins, Britain, 59:32:32.

2. Chris Froome, Britain, 2:05 behind

3. Vincenzo Nibali, Italy, 2:23 behind

4. Cadel Evans, Australia, 3:19 behind

5. Jurgen Van den Broeck, Belgium, 4:48 behind