Tour de France stage 13: Muret > Rodez, 198kms

It's a sunflower sort of day as the peloton chases the day's first escapers...

The escape is led by Thomas De Gendt, and they're building a lead of about four minutes...

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Joaquin Rodriguez seems happy with his Tour so far, as does his mate Alberto Losada...

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Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali are deep in talk about the Tour, a race they've both won already...

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Michael Matthews might be in with a chance today with the uphill finish and is recovery from the big stage three crash...

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Alexandre Geniez leads the escape north, but their lead hasn't gone much beyond four minutes still...

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Sky leads the peloton across a sea of sunflowers, about 50-kilometres into the stage...

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Giant-Alpecin have started to chase with conviction, they fancy this stage for their powerful sprinter, John Degenkolb...

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It's getting hot and thirsty out there in the sun Kristijan Koren collects bottles for his Cannondale-Garmin teamates...

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Yohann Gene carries all kinds of bottles for his thristy teamates - and he needs to ride one-handed to support the weight of them..!

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Chris Froome is holding court to Tony Gallopin now, everyone wants to talk with the race-leader...

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Geniez seems to be cruising in the escape, but he'll be one of the first to drop back in an hour or so...

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Froome has stopped holding court to his rivals and settles down to have some lunch...

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Nibali is making his second wheel-change in a few minutes, but he's burnt his hand taking the front wheel out after a long descent..!

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Nibali gets a generous push from his mechanic and will soon get back into the race...

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Giant-Alpecin are working hard now, the gap has come down to two minutes but stayed there too long...

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Tyler Farrar is suffering in the heat, and he's about to suffer more in the hills at the end of the stage...

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Sam Bennett has blown up because of the heat - he'll lose 21 minutes on the stage today...

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Jean-Christophe Peraud has crashed heavily on the scorching road - the loss of skin speaks for itself...

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Peraud has got back to the peloton but is in all kinds of pain with his injuries...

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Michael Rogers has now taken Tinkoff to the front of the peloton to chase...

Peter Sagan is the red-hot favourite today, and he's right near the front with his Tinkoff mates...

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John Degenkolb is also near the front, but his form so far makes him doubtful to win...

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Tejay Van Garderen is protecting Greg Van Avermaet who is BMC's man for this uphill finish...

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Nathan Haas has jumped away from the escape with 20-kilometres left - but they'll bring him back very quickly...

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Simon Yates has taken over the chasing for Orica-Green Edge in the final 15-kilometres, bringing the gap down to less than one-minute...

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De Gendt leads Kelderman and Gauthier into Rodez near the end of their long, long escape...

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Greg Van Avermaet has beaten Peter Sagan to win stage thirteen - what a surprise..!

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Greg Van Avermaet celebrates while Sagan curses - the Tinkoff 'star has yet to win a stage in the Tour..!

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