Tour de France – stage 13 in pictures

Michael Rogers (left) and Alberto Contador (right) of Team Saxo-Tinkoff chat with Haimar Zubeldia of Team RadioShack Leopard ahead of stage 13 Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Riders pass by the Hotel De Ville as they start the race Photograph: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

The 173km stage is one for the sprinters (indeed, it's the last one for the sprinters before the charge to the Champs Elysées on the final day) Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP

Fans wait in the corn fields for the riders to appear Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

… And there they are Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The peloton pass through woodlands, with a six-man breakaway having burst ahead of them Photograph: Nicolas Bouvy/EPA

Contador and his team are putting in the hard yards and have somehow opened up a lead on Chris Froome Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Mark Cavendish manages to cling onto the breakaway, and with the finish-line in sight he breaks into a trademark sprint Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA

Cavendish is victorious, ahead of Bauke Mollema – one of Froome's other big rivals for the yellow jersey – and with Contador not far behind Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP

Froome limps home 69 seconds off the pace. His team has been whittled down by injuries in recent days which has hampered his chances a little, but still, he would not have expected to have lost any time on such a routine stage as this. His overall lead in the GC standings is now just 2min 28sec Photograph: Laurent Rebours/AP