Martinez bags Stage 13, Roglic strengthens grip on yellow jersey

Puy Mary (France) : Primoz Roglic strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey with an emphatic climbing display on the double-digit ramp of the Pas de Peyrol to distance rival Egan Bernal after Dani Martinez won a thrilling Stage 13 from the break in the ongoing Tour de France.

Slovenia's Roglic paid back his Jumbo-Visma teammates for their indefatigable protection during the challenging stage in the Massif Central by riding clear of his key rival on the Tour's first-ever summit finish on the Puy Mary on Friday.

The only rider who could keep up with Roglic's stinging accelerations was his compatriot TadejPogacar of UAE Team Emirates, who finished in the yellow jersey's wheel to rise five places to second in the general classification as the expense of Bernal.

Colombia's Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) struggled on the decisive climb, the defending champion forced to dig deep to limit his losses as the Slovenian duo made light work of the highest pass in the Massif Central.

Some hefty pacing by Ineos ahead of the Puy Mary was unable to isolate Roglic, who rode in the coattails of teammates SeppKuss and Tom Dumoulin before launching his decisive attack. Bernal's wobble saw the 23-year-old fall to almost a minute behind the trailblazing Roglic on GC.

He also relinquished the white jersey to the impressive Tour debutant Pogacar, winner of Stage 9 in Laruns at the end of the opening week.