Schmid wins in Belfort on the day Tom Pidcock takes the Tour to new heights

Tadej Pogačar fears no one. Jonas Vingegaard fears no one except Tadej Pogačar. The others fear one another, except for Remco Evenepoel, who fears no one except Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. However, at a certain point along the road leading to the summit of the Ballon d’Alsace, Remco Evenepoel – or rather his team, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe – began to fear Tom Pidcock as well. Because the Englishman was turning his Tour de France – and indeed the Grande Boucle – upside down for many other riders, almost all of whom were aiming to finish the race in the top ten of the general classification, as well as those still harbouring hopes of a podium finish in Paris.

The thirteenth stage of the Grande Boucle held little interest for the riders competing for the top places, and the man wearing the yellow jersey couldn’t have cared less. After all, there was only one climb, the Ballon d’Alsace – the first the Tour has ever tackled in its history, though this did not mean it was at the forefront of the riders’ minds; history interests the fans, but not always those riding to win – and between the summit and the finish there were thirty kilometres of descent and flat terrain; moreover, tomorrow and Sunday are packed with climbs. Anyone with the legs and the courage to break away from the peloton was bound to find freedom. And freedom they had. The coming stages will reveal whether it was too much. There are, however, signs suggesting that this may well be the case.

Tom Pidcock certainly has no shortage of legs or courage. He set off towards Belfort surrounded by three teammates keen to lend him a hand – Meurisse, Hermans and Wright – and a good thirty or so other riders on a breakaway. The Englishman was hoping for a bit of a distraction from the peloton. He would never even have dared to imagine one on the scale that unfolded today. The peloton’s prolonged indifference towards the breakaway riders allowed the front-runners to build up a lead of minute after minute. You don’t turn down a gift; it’s not polite. You take it and put it away. Thank you, and you’re welcome.

Tom Pidcock set off from Dole eleven minutes and forty-nine seconds behind the yellow jersey and seven minutes and forty-three seconds behind third place. In Belfort, he found himself four minutes and fifteen seconds behind Tadej Pogačar, nine seconds behind third place – held by Remco Evenepoel – and finished third, which he was a little disappointed about, but not all that much. He gained seven and a half minutes on a stage in which he did expend energy, but not excessively so, despite the five attacks he launched on the climbs and on the flat, and a few gruelling sprints to catch those who were trying to stand between him and victory.

The only ones to have evaded the clutches of the Englishman were Mauro Schmid and Harold Tejada, the only ones to have crossed the finish line ahead of him on the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France. And yet the Swiss rider and the Colombian did almost everything they could to arrive in Belfort with a sense of regret, slowing down almost to a standstill in the final kilometres, both so fearful of being outmanoeuvred by the rider alongside them that they risked being caught again by those they had outmanoeuvred sixteen kilometres earlier. A wait that didn’t turn into a let-down by a margin of two seconds and a few dozen metres. Mauro Schmid was the first to cross the finish line in Belfort, with Harold Tejada second. Tom Pidcock came third, looking more cheerful than disappointed, aware that his Tour de France has now taken on a whole new dimension.

In recent days, some have complained about the excessive control exercised by UAE Team Emirates, Tadej Pogačar’s team. On a day when interest was low, the Tour de France took on a slightly different form.