Tour de France Stage 13 Preview: Pidcock to battle the Condor in 5/1 and 7/1 picks

The longest day of this year’s Tour de France takes place on Friday when the peloton takes on 205.8km of hilly terrain in Stage 13 from Dole to Belfort  (live from 11:30am BST on TNT Sports 1, highlights from 7pm on Channel 5).

The Category 1 Ballon d’Alsace climb is the standout feature of the day, coming late enough to tempt breakaway riders over a significant portion of proceedings. Here are my Tour de France Stage 13 predictions.

Tour de France Betting Odds

The Condor from Ecuador is the market leader for Friday’s action, with Richard Carapaz 7/1 for the stage win.

Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar is 12/1, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock and Dutch former world champ Mathieu van der Poel at 14s. USA’s Quinn Simmons and Tim Wellens of Belgium are 16/1.

Cycling Odds

While the first 150km look uneventful from the stage profile alone, the two categorised climbs which follow shape the entire day’s action.

There’s a Cat 3 lump at Col des Croix after 157.4km. It’s 5.1km at an average 4.8%, and with no sections steeper than 9% it makes for a particularly constant obstacle.

What follows will define the stage, the 8.9km Ballon d’Alsace which average 6.9% with some lengthy steeper areas on the way up.

The positioning of this climb should encourage the breakaway, with the last 30km being mainly downhill and therefore favouring some of the more technical bike handlers in the peloton.

Richard Carapaz @ 7/1

A former Giro d’Italia winner and conqueror of eight Grand Tour stages, Carapaz was made for stages like this one.

At Le Tour two years ago he dominated the second half of the event with five breakaway involvements in 10 days, much as he’d escaped five times in nine stages at La Vuelta in 2022.

And while he won’t get quite that much leeway from the GC contenders at this Tour given that he’s only 17 minutes off the pace, he’s due a day out in the sun ahead of the pack.

Sooner or later he’s going to make a break for it, and considering the stage profile he may well back himself to get up ahead and form a lead going up the Ballon d’Alsace.

Tom Pidcock to finish in the top 3 @ 5/1

I considered Quinn Simmons for an each-way bet here, with all five of his top-20 finishes during his Tour career coming in breakaways.

But that final stretch of downhills just looks so tempting for Pidcock. If he can stick with the front group to the top of the Cat 1 climb, he has to back himself to make the most of those technical last 30km.

So the 5/1 special about the Pinarello Q36.5 team leader coming in among the podium positions looks a great shout.