PARIS, July 19 (Xinhua) -- France's Julian Alaphilippe extended his advantage over defending champion Geraint Thomas on Tour de France overall standings by going through an individual time trial as the fastest rider on Friday.
Alaphilippe won the 13th stage, covering 27.2km around Pau, in 35 minutes on the day marking the 100-year anniversary of the Tour yellow jersey introduction. Pre-race favorite Thomas trailed him by 14 seconds.
"I didn't think that I could win the stage, especially with such a big gap against Thomas. The first part suited me but I surprised myself in the second part of the race. I pushed my limits," said Alaphilippe, who leads Thomas by 1 minute 26 seconds.
Steven Kruijswijk of the Netherlands moves up to third, while sitting 2 minutes 12 seconds behind Alaphilippe.
Formerly ranked third, Thomas' Ineos teammate Egan Bernal drops to fifth, also conceding the white jersey representing the best young rider to Alaphilippe's Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammate Enric Mas, who is placed fourth overall.
Belgian rookie Wout Van Aert, however, underwent a bitter day. The stage 10 winner crashed into the barriers, and was later announced by his Jumbo-Visma team to be ruled out of the race citing an injury.
Riders expect a much tougher stage 14 on Saturday. Starting from Tarbes, the 117.5km stage will conclude on the Tourmalet which is over 2,000 meters high and listed as an HC climb point.
