Unlucky Peter Sagan second-best again at Tour as Chris Froome stays cool

RODEZ, France – Peter Sagan might be the unluckiest rider at the Tour de France. “So close yet so far” could be his nickname.

With a few more pumps on his pedals, a few more ounces of speed and power, the spunky Slovakian could have won four stages by now.

Instead, he has four second places.

He blamed only himself for the latest addition Friday to his unwanted collection. In a man-to-man duel on an uphill final sprint against Greg van Avermaet, Sagan mistimed his finish, easing up just a fraction too early against the Belgian rider who pushed to the very end.

“My stupid mistake,” said the Tinkoff-Saxo rider.

Chris Froome was faultless. Again. Another stage down, another step closer to sipping champagne on the Champs-Elysees for the race leader.

“Just happy to tick that day off. One day closer to Paris now,” he said.

For most of the flat-to-hilly Stage 13 from Muret deep in southern France, six low-placed riders rode in a breakaway at the front of the race. None were a threat for the podium in Paris. The closest to Froome, Cyril Gautier, was more than an hour behind him in the overall standings. So Froome and the main pack happily let the escape get away, hoping instead for a breather on the 123-mile trek after three grueling days of climbing in the Pyrenees and under unrelenting sun that melted tarmac.

Riding past plantations of yellow sunflowers and golden fields of harvested wheat, the riders worked on staying hydrated as temperatures soared into the mid-90s.

A loss of concentration proved very painful for Jean-Christophe Peraud. Last year’s runner-up suffered a nasty spill at speed on the flat, tearing strips of skin off his left leg and arms as he hit the deck hard and rolled several times. The French leader of the AG2R La Mondiale team gingerly picked himself up and remounted, gritting his teeth. A Tour doctor then patched him up on the move, wrapping his wounds in bandages as Peraud gripped the speeding medical car.