Key moments

With rain pouring on the peloton most of the way from Vittel to Colmar, the priority for the peloton was safety. But Heinrich Haussler saw things differently. He attacked at the third kilometer mark and, as the raced moved east, he rode his fellow fugitives off his wheel. He attacked on the climbs and on the descents. He put time into his rivals from beginning to end and eventually arrived at the finish with sufficient time to throw an emotional salute. With tears in his eyes, he crossed the line to take his first Tour de France stage win.
Hushovd was at the front of the peloton as it arrived at the line almost seven minutes behind the German/Australian winner... meaning he regains the green jersey. And Franco Pellizotti’s aggression also served him well. He will wear the polka-dot jersey in stage 14.

The Progress Report
The profile of the 13th stage provides a reminder that we have reached another phase of the Tour de France. The 200km journey from Vittel to Colmar featured five categorized climbs, two of which were over 1,000m in altitude. Points for the polka-dot jersey were awarded at the cat-3 cote de Xertigny (46km), the cat-2 col de la Schlucht (105km), the cat-1 col du Platzerwasel (138.5km), the cat 3 col du Bannstein (165.5km) and col du Firstplan (179.5km). The intermediate sprints were in Xertigny (43.5km), Gerardmer (88.5km) and Luttenbach (124km). The official start was at 12.27pm and there were 164 riders at the sign-on: Leipheimer (AST) had to forfeit his fourth place overall, he did not start the stage because he fractured a scaphoid bone. The other non-starter was Wrolich (MRM).

Seven Form Escape Early
At the third kilometer, Moreau (AGR) attacked the peloton. He was joined in the lead by Haussler (CTT) and they were able to put some distance into the peloton. A counter-attacking group of five: Voigt (SAX), Garate (RAB), Perez Moreno (EUS), Uran (GCE) and Chavanel (QST). At 18km, they reached a gain of 50”; this was the maximum before the peloton – led by Liquigas, Lampre and Cofidis – got to within 15” at the first climb (46km). The average speed of the first hour was 47.5km/h.
At 57km, Haussler, Perez Moreno and Chavanel accelerated ahead of their escape companions who were caught by the peloton at 62km when the leading trio’s advantage was 1’00”. Riders in the bunch eased off the pace at 67km and by 68km, the three leaders were 2’50” ahead. This grew rapidly: 5’00” at 71km; 6’30” at 75km; 8’10” at 85km… the average speed for the second hour was 43.7km/h. At the feedzone, the peloton was 9’10” behind. This was the maximum gain of the escape.

Col de la Schlucht
AG2R led the peloton to the foot of the col de la Schlucht. Kern (COF) attacked and prompted a reaction from Pellizotti (LIQ), Barredo (QST) and eventually Martinez (EUS). They were joined by 11 others – including Feillu, Cancellara, Txurruka, Millar and van den Broeck – but they were caught by an Astana-led peloton 2km from the summit. Martinez outsprinted Pellizotti for fourth place at the top, 6’10” behind the three escapees. (The leaders did the climb in 21’52”; the peloton in 18’51”.)
Gerdemann (MRM) attacked the peloton on the descent. At 116km, the trio led Gerdemann by 4’30” and the peloton by 5’05”.

Col du Platzerwasel
At the start of the fourth climb, Gerdemann was 5’40” behind Haussler’s trio and the peloton was at 7’20”. Moreno dropped out of the lead group with 4.5km to climb. At the top the Spaniard was 2’40” behind Chavanel and Haussler. The peloton was 3’10” behind at the top and, as expected Pellizotti (LIQ) surged ahead to claim fourth-place points. Martinez (EUS) was dropped just before the top and earned no climbing points. Feillu (AGR) and Txurruka (EUS) attacked after the summit. With 50km to go they were 2’50” behind and the peloton (which included the polka-dot jersey) was at 3’25”.

Haussler Goes Solo To Victory
On the descent of the Platzwasel, Haussler attacked Chavanel. He arrived at the top of the col du Bannstein with a lead of 45” on the Frenchman and 4’00” on the counter-attack from Feillu and Txurruka. The peloton was at 6’40” at the top of the fourth ascent. Feillu was dropped by Txurruka with 25km to go; Chavanel was caught by Txurruka with 22km to go. With 15km to go, Haussler led Txurruka by 3’40”; Chavanel by 4’10”; Feillu by 4’55” and the peloton by 6’50”.
Feillu did make a bid to make up some time in the general classification but finished just 30” ahead of the peloton that was led home 6’43” behind Haussler.
Pellizotti earned 27 points in the climbing classification, which is enough to put him in the polka-dot jersey for stage 14. Hushovd finished sixth in the stage and regained the lead in the points classification. Nocentini finished 26th in the stage and will wear the yellow jersey in stage 14.

Every day he’s ridden in the yellow jersey, Rinaldo Nocentini acknowledges afterwards that his time in the lead is limited… but the Italian remains ahead of his rivals after 13 stages.

“It was a tough day. The change in weather was terrible: more than 30 degrees yesterday, and today it was wet and cold. We still managed to retain the yellow jersey, which is a good thing. The main players in the general classification did not attack each other today; the Astana team remained at the front of the peloton without really accelerating and this suited me perfectly.
“On paper, tomorrow is still a stage where we should not have too many problems to keep the yellow jersey. On Sunday however, I would be very surprised if there are no attacks especially on the final climb to Verbier. In this case, I have little chance of keeping it because my advantage is scarce on Contador and Armstrong. "

On a day with two high climbs over half the field finished 20 minutes behind the winner. In the first peloton, however, was Thor Hushovd who finished sixth in a stage when Mark Cavendish was 118th. The Norwegian is back in the green jersey and admits that the points classification is becoming a compelling competition.

“When I saw the climbs today I was afraid it was too hard but my team-mates, mainly Andreas Klier, gave me some morale up the final ascent and I came back and I could stay in the peloton so to end up in the green jersey means it’s been the perfect day for me.
“I’m able to get points by holding on over the climbs. Cavendish is the fastest one when it’s flat so I have to take every opportunity; and today I was presented with one so I seized the moment. This is my tactic. That’s how it’s going to be for the rest of the Tour – I’ll go for every point I can, on the flat days, in the mountains… everything. Every year it’s a big battle for the green jersey. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.
“Heinrich did a great job to put himself in the breakaway and he had to be really strong to be up there on this hilly, cold and rainy day so congrats to him. He showed again that he’s a classy rider.”

At the start of the year, Heinrich Haussler performed so well that he led the world rankings for several weeks. At the end of April he took a break so he could come back to form for the Tour de France. Unsure if his early-season form was just good luck, he approached July with trepidation but when the weather turned feral the 25-year-old relished the situation. He attacked early in the 13th stage and won by over four minutes.

“It really means something to me, that’s why my emotions were going a bit crazy at the finish. I only live about 40 kilometers away from Colmar and I know this area well. This is the kind of weather I love racing in too. I’ve done some of my best races in the rain so I thought it was really important for me to be in the break today. I saw the weather forecast and I thought it would be good for me.
“At the beginning I was pretty concerned because there were some good climbers there like [Juan Manuel] Garate, Sylvain Chavanel and Jens Voigt… but the group just wasn’t working properly. We only had a maximum of 45 seconds on the peloton so I attacked two or three times to try and split it up and it made things a bit easier when we got away.
“It was just so cold on top – it really was freezing – and that takes so much energy. I knew that, as the day went on, I’d stay the same and the others would get weaker. That was the key to the success today. This is my type of weather and I love it.
“After the Classics I had three or four weeks off the bike. I didn’t really know how I was going; if it was just luck at the start of the year… but then I came back and earned a few second places and a win and now to achieve a victory in the Tour de France is really amazing. This is one of the happiest days I’ve ever had in my life.
“I thought Sylvain Chavanel was playing games with me because he wasn’t coming through and doing his turns properly but obviously he just didn’t have any energy left so I risked everything on the descents because the peloton was closing in so I attacked with 50km to go. Then I just went full-gas all the way to the finish.
“I didn’t exactly chose this stage as one for me before the Tour but it’s special. On the last hill it was absolutely amazing, I was getting goosebumps all over me and this is what you do cycling for: to get these feelings and these emotions.”