Belgian van Avermaet claims maiden Tour de France stage victory after beating Sagan in sprint

Belgium's Greg van Avermaet held off Peter Sagan to win stage 13 ©AFP/Getty Images

Belgium's Greg van Avermaet held off the challenge of Slovakian national champion Peter Sagan in a sprint for the line to win stage 13 of the Tour de France from Muret to Rodez.

Following the final Pyrenean stage of the race being completed yesterday, the 198.5 kilometres route to Rodez appeared to present Sagan with the ideal opportunity to end his barren run at the Tour which now stretches back to 2013, with the final incline of the stage likely to dislodge his sprint rivals.

Unlike the previous two days in the mountains in which breakaways were allowed the stay clear until the finish the six-man lead group today were chased down rapidly by the teams with strong sprinters among their ranks after the move featuring riders such as France's Cyril Gauiter and The Netherlands' Wilco Kelderman began to gain a significant advantage.

At its peak the group's lead was approaching six minutes but it remained manageable for the peloton with Giant-Alpecin and Saxo-Tinkoff riding hard to set up a stage victory for Germany's John Degenkolb and Sagan respectively.

A bad crash threatened to remove last year's runner-up Jean-Christophe Péraud of France from the race, but this year's main contenders remained untroubled as the stage entered the closing kilometres towards the final ascent of the day.

The remnants of the early breakaway, which consisted of three riders for the final 20km, were caught prior to the climb as the sprinters began to line-up for the finish.

Van Avermaet was able to make the decisive move to break clear of his rivals to win his first ever stage at the Tour de France, triumphing in 4 hours 43min 42sec.

A frustrated Sagan was awarded the same time in second place, with the result meaning he has now finished as the runner-up on a Tour stage on 10 occasions since his last win on stage seven in 2013.

Britain's Chris Froome maintained his race lead in the Tour de France after enjoying another relatively comfortable day, finishing sixth to maintain his overall lead of nearly three minutes ©Getty Images

"I survived the Pyrenees with today's stage in mind and I've succeeded," said van Avermaet.

"At 200 metres to go, I felt someone was on my wheel but I didn't know who it was, when I realised it was Peter Sagan, I was hoping that he wouldn't come around me.

"The last 100 metres was very long but I'm happy that I stayed away.

"I certainly don't have any advice for Sagan as I have the same problems as him.

"It's difficult to win at this level."

Britain's Chris Froome came home sixth on the stage, seven seconds behind the winner and maintained his 2min 52se lead over America's Tejay van Garderen at the top of the general classification.

Froome may come under pressure tomorrow as the 178.5km stage 14 from Rodez to Mende features several steep climbs, including the final asecent of the day up the Côte de la Croix Neuve.