XDS-Astana Team rider Harold Tejada was narrowly edged out in a tense closing battle yesterday in Stage 13 of the 2026 Tour de France.
The 29-year-old Colombian had joined a breakaway group earlier on in the day’s racing, a large group which also included Kazakhstan’s Nicolas Vinokurov, but the length of the stage put paid to the attack for many of those hoping to take a win for their teams.
This left Tejada and Swiss rider Mauro Schmid to power on ahead at 16km from the finish, and, despite not being team mates, they worked together to maintain the lead until the closing stages when they would have a chance of getting to the line first.
This is not unusual in cycling, any breakaway is destined to fail if the riders don’t all do their bit, so Tejada and Schmid needed to dig deep collectively to hold off a bigger group of riders who would have caught them if the stage had been 500 metres longer.
The final sprint to the line, in the beautiful French town of Belfort, came after 205.8km, the longest stage of this race, having set off in the heat of Dole earlier in the day.
Harold Tejada isn’t in contention for overall victory, although arguably nor is even the second-placed rider, Jonas Vingegaard, because of the absolute mastery of the man in yellow, the world’s best, Tadej Pogacar, who leads the general classification by a comfortable margin. Few predict that to change, with the Tour well over half complete, while anything can happen in this sport.
XDS-Astana Team has had a good Tour, although riding in the shadow of some of the leading outfits has meant a lower-profile 2026 for the Kazakhstani team, but with a full contingent still pedalling, the remaining seven stages yet promise the chance to take that coveted Tour de France stage win.
Bear in mind, though, that this year’s Tour goes up Alpe d’Huez – twice!
