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Tour de France stage 13: Cavendish strikes back

British rider Mark Cavendish won Friday's 13th stage of the Tour de France, making up for the disappointment of finishing second in Thursday's sprint. Sky's Chris Froome held on to the yellow jersey although his lead was cut by Spaniard Alberto Contador.

Published: 12 July 2013 17:22 CEST
Tour de France stage 13: Cavendish strikes back
File photo: Cavendish storms home in this year's Tour de France. Photo Jeff Pahoud/AFP

Britain's Mark Cavendish won a drama-filled 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday, as Spain's former two-time winner Alberto Contador narrowed his deficit to yellow jersey holder Chris Froome.

Omega-Pharma sprinter Cavendish, taking his second win of the 100th edition of the race and 25th of his career, dominated a two-up sprint with Slovakian Peter Sagan.

Contador, who began the day in sixth place at 3min 54sec behind Froome, finished with the same group of riders 1:08 ahead of Froome after the Briton and his Sky team were dropped in windy conditions in the closing 31 km.

The British champion had been near the front of the peloton when Contador's Saxo team turned the screw on Team Sky and caused a split in the peloton 31 km from the finish.

Their turn of pace soon left Froome behind and the Sky team of the Kenyan-born Briton crumbled for the second time in the race as they fought in vain to close the gap.

One by one Sky dropped off the pace, leaving Froome isolated and requiring the help of other teams to help in the chase.

Their failure to plug the gap in tough conditions left a 14-strong leading group, being driven mainly by Contador's Saxo team, to forge ahead and finish 1:08 ahead.

As a result, Contador moved up three places to third overall and, after sitting with a 3:54 overnight deficit, is now only 2:45 behind Froome, with Dutchman Bauke Mollema in second at 2:28.

Earlier in the race Mollema's Belkin team were instrumental in virtually ending the podium hopes of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.

The Movistar team leader started the stage in second place overall at 3:25 but when he suffered a puncture, Belkin increased the pace at the front of the peloton and the former Tour of Spain winner was dropped.

Valverde's teammates dropped back in a bid to pace him back to the peloton but after a long spell of chasing they gave up the ghost. He stopped chasing and eventually trailed home nearly 10 minutes off the pace.

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Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home

Children who live with someone ill with coronavirus-like symptoms should not attend kindergarten or school, Denmark's health minister has announced, responding to widespread concern surrounding the reopening of the country's schools.

Published: 14 April 2020 09:32 CEST
Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home
Parents have been worried about the reopening. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix
Magnus Heunicke announced the new policy in a press release sent out on Sunday, following widespread criticism of the guidance from the Danish Health Authority (Sundhetsstyrelsen) that having sick relatives at home should not prevent children returning when schools reopen this week. 
 

“Many have been unsure whether the right measures have been taken when schools and daycare services open up again on Wednesday,” Heunicke said in the press release. 
 
“In particular there have been questions over whether children should attend kindergarten or school if someone is infected with Covid-19 at home. This uncertainty is now being taken away by the government.” 
 
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Municipal governments in Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense, among others, had already responded to public unease about children bringing the infection from home by saying they would defy the health authority and allow the families of children who have sick people at home to keep them home. 
 
 

The Danish government's decision to overrule its own health authority sees the country's policy diverge from that of neighbouring Sweden, where the advice to parents is that children should be sent to school even if someone at home is ill. 
 
Heunicke said that the decision had followed a reappraisal of how likely it is that children will be able to follow hygiene requirements. 
 
“There are a number of strict requirements for cleaning, hygiene and self-insulation when there is a coronavirus infection at home. This can be really difficult for families with smaller children, and we understand that there are many who are unsure about this situation,” he said.  
 
“Therefore, in the government, we have decided, on a precautionary principle, that children living in a household with a person who has coronavirus should not attend school or daycare.” 
 
This decision applies only to children, and not to adult staff who work in schools or kindergartens, as the ministry believes adult staff will be better able to follow sanitary guidelines.  
 
According to a survey by Local Government Denmark, which represents the country's municipalities, over half of Denmark's municipalities plan to reopen schools and kindergartens on Wednesday, with the rest following no later than Monday. 
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