Greg van Avermaet denies Peter Sagan for stage 13 in Rodez

The two riders went shoulder to shoulder at the conclusion of the 195.km transitional stage from Muret but it was BMC's van Avermaet who had more left in the tank after a stinging climb inside the final kilometre.

Van Avermaet won by a bike length over Tinkoff-Saxo's Sagan, who took consolation in the fact that he extended his lead over Germany’s Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) in the green jersey points standings.

Another Belgian, Jan Bakelants of Ag2R-La Mondiale, took third place at three seconds, while Britain's Chris Froome (Teak Sky) retained his yellow jersey when leading a group of the main favourites over the line for sixth place, seven seconds behind the winner.

On another sweltering day in southern France - with temperatures reaching as high as 36 degrees Celsius - a break of six riders rode over a series of hills and three lower-category climbs with a maximum lead of four-and-a-half minutes over the peloton.

Frenchmen Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and local rider Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) were caught with 10km remaining, swiftly followed by Australian Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin), who had riled his fellow escapees with a failed solo dig inside the final 25km.

Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), France’s Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) defied the onslaught of the chasing pack until the very last kilometre, with the last man standing – Kelderman – swallowed up near the top of the 10% ramp ahead of the flat closing straight.

Sagan held van Avermaet’s wheel as the road levelled out after the decisive uphill test – and a betting man would have backed the 25-year-old to swing by and end a winless streak on the Tour that stretches back to the first week of the 2013 race.

But van Avermaet proved the strongest in the two-man shoot out as he kept his head down and never gave Sagan a sniff of the win.

“It was really close. I went really early because last week at Le Havre [in stage five] I left it too late. I saw there was someone on my wheel so I just kept sprinting for the line,” said 30-year-old van Avermart after the first Tour stage win of his career.

Another successful day in the saddle for the yellow jersey saw Froome retain his 2:52 lead over American Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) in the general classification, with Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in third place at 3:09.

The Giant-Alpecin team of John Degenkolb did their best to rein in the six-man break after it formed from the outset, and it was the German team’s pace-setting on the front of the pack that ensured the lead never grew much more than four minutes. Too bad their man John Degenkolb couldn't finish it off: the Paris-Roubaix winner would finish fourth at Rodez, seven seconds down.

Andre Greipel nipped through a tight gap between Peter Sagan and the barriers to pick up enough points to move above Sagan in the virtual standings – by one digit. But with the ramped finish in Rodez not one for the German veteran, Sagan was always going to edge further clear come the end of the day.

With around 65km remaining some sidewinds and a long downhill false flat saw the Tinkoff-Saxo team of Sagan and Alberto Contador come to the front and stretch out the peloton. A split occurred – but when Vincenzo Nibali found himself in the second group after picking up a puncture, the horsepower of his Astana team-mates made sure the race came back together.

Renowned for his second places, Greg van Avermaet finally picked up a win on the Tour after beating a man whose own propensity for being a bridesmaid has almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But Friday’s prize goes to Cyril Gautier, the heir apparent of team-mate Thomas Voeckler, who kept the break working together and almost ensured it went the distance.

Peter Sagan is too obvious a choice – and besides, he did at least extend his green jersey lead over Andre Greipel to 24 points. A man far worse off than the perennial second that is Sagan has to be French veteran Jean-Christophe Peraud, whose heavy fall on a coarse road with 62km remaining not only deprived him of most his skin, but also his decency after his brown Ag2R-La Mondiale bib shorts were all but ripped from his body.

The race enters the Massif Central for the 178,5km stage 14 from Rodez to Mende which includes four categorised climbs and another uphill drag to the line. Expect another compelling day in the saddle.

In a two-way tussle between two men who have more Tour twos to their names than ones, who will buck the trend?