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Another day in the Tour de France and another flat transition stage, as the race continues its journey towards the city of Lyon.
The peloton departs from the city of Tours and journeys 173 kilometres to the town of Saint-Amand-Montrond.
While Stage 13 will be considered a stage for the sprinters, a short climb, within 10 kilometres of the finish in the outskirts of Saint-Amand-Montrond, may ruffle a few feathers if ridden at a high enough tempo.
The King of the Mountains competition makes a quick return for Stage 13, with just one Category 4 climb on offer.
A shame for those hoping to learn more about the climb the peloton will begin about 10 kilometres from the finish, with information sparse on the Tour de France website.
The Category 4 Côte de Crotz comes 77.5 kilometres after the peloton depart from Tours, it is a relatively short climb just 1.2 kilometres in length with an average gradient of 4%.
Fortunately, Stage 14 will be considerably more enticing for the King of the Mountains contenders.
The Intermediate Sprint lies 112.5 kilometres from the stage’s beginning in Tours, and comes 35 kilometres after the ascent of the Côte de Crotz.
Once again, the terrain will be almost perfectly flat approaching the line. With Andre Greipel, of Lotto-Belisol, again the most likely to be the best placed sprinter, as the German vainly tries to reduce the deficit to Peter of Sagan, of Cannondale.
With opportunities slowly running out, if they have not already, the Slovakian will almost certainly wear the Maillot Vert (green jersey) on the Champs-Élysées.
Stage 13’s finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond will be less technical and challenging than yesterday’s finish in Tours. However, there are still some annoying changes of direction in the approach to the finish line.
Why the race organisers decided to take a detour off the Avenues leading straight in to the finishing line is baffling.
What we can say, is that it guarantees that positioning and speed coming out of the corner will be vital, with a roundabout located 400-500m from the finishing line.
Is there ever a sprinter’s stage where Mark Cavendish, of Omega Pharma-Quickstep, is not the odds on favourite?
However, Cavendish’s aura of invincibility has been waning as of late, with his two German rivals stealing much of the spotlight.
After two forgettable days for Cavendish, involving two controversial events, could the Manx Missile be about to turn that rage in to a stage victory?
His Omega Pharma-Quickstep lead out will surely have to improve however, unless Cavendish decides to take advantage of a rival’s lead out.
Should Cavendish fail once gain, then Andre Greipel, of Lotto-Belisol, automatically becomes most people’s prime favourite for the stage victory.
Once again, the organisation and experience of the Lotto-Belisol sprint train could be the crucial decider between who takes the stage victory.
The German National Road Champion should be the favourite should he enter the sprint well positioned, and at high speed, ahead of the his rivals.
While Argos-Shimano and Marcel Kittel have had a wondrous 2013 Tour de France so far, another stage victory would always be welcome.
Constantly of benefit to Argos-Shimano’s chances of claiming the stage victory is their absolute focus on the stage finish, with their rivals potentially battling for points at the Intermediate Sprint.
Kittel’s positioning and speed going in to the sprint will be key, as he has the pure power and top end speed to edge his rivals on the day.
Nearly always certain of a finish somewhere within the top five for the stage is Peter Sagan, of Cannondale. As stated a several times already, he arguably lacks the top end speed required to defeat Cavendish, Greipel and Kittel.
Yet he compensates through his excellent positioning and ability to often follow the right wheel.
Barring an unfortunate accident, we will probably see the Slovakian secure yet another top five finish, much to the chagrin of Greipel.
Outsiders for the stage victory include Matthew Goss for Orica-GreenEDGE, Danny van Poppel for Vacansoleil-DCM, and Alexander Kristoff for Team Katusha.
The performances of Danny van Poppel in his debutante Tour de France have been particularly impressive, especially when you considering the Dutch cyclist is still 19 years-old.
While the Dutchman’s chances of a stage victory are quite slim, he could achieve yet another encouraging top five stage finish.
The breakaway deserve a special mention as outsiders for a Stage 13 victory today.
As you just never quite know what sort of damage that climb beginning just 10 kilometres from the finish might cause.
While it seems likely that the sprinters will take the stage victory, we have seen the party spoilt by surprise breakaways before.
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