The 7th stage of the Tour de France 2013 took place on July 5, 2013. It led from Montpellier over 205.5 km to Albi . In the course of the stage there was a mountain classification of the second, two of the third and one of the fourth category as well as a sprint classification. So the seventh stage counted as a flat stage.
After several unsuccessful attempts to break away, the drivers Blel Kadri and Jens Voigt pulled away from the field ten kilometers after the start, and they were able to extend their lead to 6:15 minutes. After that, their lead remained fairly constant, although the trend was falling. The first mountain classification on the Col des 13 Vents was won by Kadri ahead of Voigt. Kadri also won the second classification of the day at the Col de la Croix de Mounis, he received five mountain points and was ahead of Pierre Rolland , the previous wearer of the dotted jersey. He pulled away from the peloton to defend his jersey, but was followed by Kadri's team-mate Romain Bardet , who scored two points. Rolland received just one point and was one point behind Kadri.
On the second climb, the Cannondale team around Peter Sagan increased the pace, so that some less mountain-proof sprinters such as Mark Cavendish , André Greipel and Marcel Kittel had to tear down. The result was a duel between the peloton, in which the Cannondale team kept up the pace, and the group of suspended sprinters, who engaged their teammates in the chase work. Meanwhile, the outliers' lead continued to decline; Voigt tried a few more kilometers without driving Kadri, but was then overtaken by the peloton. Sprint jersey wearer Peter Sagan won the following intermediate sprint. After 141 kilometers, a new leading group, consisting of the riders Jan Bakelants , Cyril Gautier and Juan José Oroz , was able to pull away from the peloton. From this group Bakelants won the third mountain classification before Gautier. Bakelants also secured the last mountain point of the stage, so Blel Kadri was the new wearer of the dotted jersey .
The group of drivers left behind on the mountain did not manage to noticeably reduce the gap to the main field; this stayed steady at about two minutes. About 40 kilometers from the destination, she gave up the plan to reconnect. The field caught up with the three outliers 2.5 kilometers from the finish. Peter Sagan won the final sprint ahead of John Degenkolb and Daniele Bennati . With this, Sagan extended his lead in the sprint standings, and Daryl Impey and Michał Kwiatkowski also defended their jerseys. Orica GreenEdge continued to be the fastest team.
