Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens animate Tour de France breakaway

On the longest stage of this year’s Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates-XRG animated the day’s breakaway through Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens. The pair went up the road in a move that counted some 57 riders, before finishing in fifth and ninth, respectively.

Held over 205.8km between Dole and Belfort, stage 13 of the Tour always looked likely to be a breakaway day, and so it proved. The parcours was almost completely flat for the first 140km, before a category 3 and a category 1 ascent dominated the finale.

The Col des Croix (5.1km at 4.8%) did not prove all that selective on Friday afternoon, but the subsequent Ballon d’Alsace (9.1km at 6.8%) sure did. Over the top of that final climb, only 10 riders remained at the front of the race, with the select group including both McNulty and Wellens for the Emirati squad.

However, on the descent that followed, two opportunists saw their chance and took it. Both Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) sensed a chance to attack and went up the road, with the pair ultimately battling it out for the stage honours. The day’s victory went to Schmid in a two-up sprint, whilst the rest were left to fight for the minor placings behind.

Despite their best efforts, neither McNulty nor Wellens could close the gap to the leading duo, but their efforts were not for nothing. Both riders sealed top-10 places on stage 13, with their display ensuring that UAE Team Emirates-XRG closed the gap to Lidl-Trek in the Tour de France team classification.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, race leader Tadej Pogačar was kept safe and present by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates. The pair of Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt combined to keep the breakaway’s gap at a manageable distance, and ensure Pogačar remained in control of the Yellow Jersey heading into this weekend’s mountain stages.

Reflecting on their afternoons, both McNulty and Pogačar were content with how things had played out on the Tour’s longest day.

McNulty: “We had Tim and I in the final section, it was a smaller group and everybody was playing games. In the end, that’s kind of how it goes sometimes. I missed the move but two guys got away. Tim and I tried to work together to either get away or close the gap, but in the end they stayed away. Overall, it was still a good day for us.”

Pogačar: “It was a really tough day. It was fast and I am happy that it is over. You need to be quick with thinking and I think today we managed pretty well. With the riders, we spoke well and it was all good. Everything was quite under control today, and we knew it was going to be a tough day for us anyway, but in the end it played much better than I expected.

“I think it was even better for us that Tom [Pidcock] was in the front, because then other teams had to chase him in the end a bit. So we could sit on the wheels for the last 30km. Markstein [for stage 14] is a nice place, and I am looking forward to riding up again tomorrow.”

Tour de France 2026 stage 13 results:

1. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) 4:06:58

2. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) s.t

3. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +2″

5. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

9. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 13:

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 47:18:31

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:36

3. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4:06

8. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +5:08