LE GRAND COLOMBIER, France — Former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski soloed to the top of the Grand Colombier mountain in the Tour de France on Friday, while Tadej Pogacar cut a little more time off Jonas Vingegaard’s overall lead in the fight for the yellow jersey.
Kwiatkowski, a seasoned veteran with the Ineos Grenadiers team, was part of an early breakaway and went solo about 11 kilometers from the daunting mountaintop finish in Stage 13.
Vingegaard and Pogacar watched each other closely. Well shepherded by his UAE Team Emirates teammates, Pogacar did not attack before the last 500 meters of the 17.4-kilometer-long ascent, yet managed to gain some precious time.
Pogacar crossed the line in third position behind Kwiatkowski and Maxim Van Gils, four seconds ahead of Vingegaard. He was awarded a time bonus of four seconds for his third-place finish to cut Vingegaard’s overall lead to just nine seconds ahead of two big mountain stages scheduled in the Alps over the weekend before Monday’s second rest day.