Tour de France 2018 Stage 13 live stream: Watch online

Stage 13 at the 2018 Tour de France comes out of the mountains to give the sprinters another chance for a stage win. Here is how to catch the Friday action.

After three midweek stages through the French Alps, the Tour de France heads into its third weekend with a return to the flatlands. From Le Bourg-d’Oisans, the road to Valence has rolling terrain in a few places. But the stage lacks all of the high mountains that shook up the race over the previous days.

The stage gives the general classification contenders a chance to sit up and leave the heavy racing to other cyclists. Stage 13 is tailor-made for another sprint finish in Valence, complete with a false flat that climbs about 20 feet over the last half-mile.

The yellow jersey will be safely tucked into the peloton. It will be a brief respite for both the contenders and their teammates. Instead, it will be the contenders for the green jersey that take advantage of one of their only true opportunity to sprint in the middle week of racing. Those teams with sprinters in the mix will do the majority of the work on Friday’s stage.

Peter Sagan will be right in the thick of the competition at the end of the day. Bedecked comfortably in green once again, the five-time Tour de France points winner is a more diverse rider tham most of the other sprinters. Able to get through both flat and rolling stages, Sagan scores points where other sprinters lag behind.

This will not be one of those stages, however. Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen have proven their strength in sprint finishes already in this year’s Tour de France. One rider who won’t be in the mix is Mark Cavendish. The Manxman ranks second in all-time stage wins at the Tour, but finished outside the time limit on Stage 11 and was eliminated from the race.

How to watch the stage

Here is how to catch Stage 13 at the Tour de France live on July 20. The action from Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Valence will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network. Live streaming of the action is available on NBC Sports Gold or FuboTV.

• Date: Friday, July 20, 2018
• Start time: 7:20 a.m. ET
• Start: Le Bourg-d’Oisans, France
• Finish: Valence, France
• TV Info: NBC Sports Network
• Live Stream: NBC Sports Gold, Fubo.TV

The peloton should avoid the threat of rain at the start of Stage 13 in Le Bourg-d’Oisans. That threat is minimal, and skies are expected to be clear for most of the ride to Valence. Temperatures will hover in the 80s and could rise up into the low 90s by the finish.

Next: Tour de France 2018 route breakdown and highlights

This is a stage designed for pure sprinters to excel. Watch out for Gaviria and the Quick Step leadout train. Everyone will be looking to latch on to the Colombian’s wheel on this stage thanks to their position as the strongest team at delivering sprint victories.