Martínez took a deserved win as he beat a pair of BORA-hansgrohe riders, Max Schachmann and Lennard Kämna, to claim stage honours. The Colombian attacked a large break to claw his way over to Schachmann, who had attacked earlier, with Kämna sitting on him. He was able to weather a few attacks from Kämna in the finale and emerged victorious in the sprint to the line.
Martínez dedicated the win to his 2-year-old son, making a heart symbol as he crossed the line. He overcome a two to one disadvantage in the finale.
"When I heard that Powless was with Schachmann I felt pretty calm, but when they radioed through that Neilson had been dropped, I knew it was my duty to go look for him," Martínez said. "When I went over the second category [Col de la Néronne] I thought I was fighting for second place, I was so far back. But then when we actually reached Schachmann on that last climb I thought it was possible again."
Martínez caught Schachmann with 1.6 kilometres remaining on the stage, surging clear with Kämna to duel for the win.
"I could see from the way they were looking they weren't in such great shape," Martínez said of the BORA-hansgrohe pair, "but it was never going to be straightforward. Finally, though, I could get the win."
"I'm very pleased, winning the Dauphiné was incredible, but this has been a very tough Tour for me with the crashes and so on. But I knew my underlying form was there, so I still wanted a stage win at least."
Behind Pogačar and Roglič rode clear from the group of favourites, establishing themselves as the top two riders in the fight for the yellow jersey, with Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) finishing next best on the stage.
Defending champion Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) all conceded over 30 seconds to the top pair. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) started the day in third and fourth respectively, but both cracked on the ascent of the penultimate climb the Col de Neronne, limping in over two and half minutes down on Roglič.
Once the flag dropped, the skirmishes began. Several riders attempted to break away until Rémi Cavagna's (Deceuninck-Quick Step) explosion drew Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), Niccolo Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie), Simon Geschke (CCC), Nils Politt (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Tejay van Garderen (EF).
After nine kilometres, Dan Martin (Israel-Start Up) launched away from the peloton with Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) in hot pursuit, the trio soon bridging to the leaders.
Wanting the break to succeed, Cavagna and Alaphilippe drove this small bunch hard reaching a 20 second lead over the peloton by the 15th kilometre but the pace was too hard for Politt, Bonifazio, Van Garderen and De Marchi who soon fell back.
De Gendt was the next rider to attempt an attack but he was soon reeled back in as the leaders reached a 40-second advantage. When the escapees reached the 19th kilometre of racing, Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott), Neilson Powless (EF), Romain Sicard (Total), and Carlos Verona (Movistar) launched clear from the peloton which then tempted Peter Sagan, Lennard Kämna (BORA-hansgrohe) Matteo Trentin (CCC), Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos), Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Imanol Erviti, Marc Soler (Movistar), Gorka Izagirre (Astana), and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) across.
This group soon ballooned with Thibaut Pinot, Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Hugh Carthy, Dani Martinez (EF), Jan Hirt (CCC), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Carlos De La Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) as additions.
Soler attacked the chasing group as the race headed up the category 1 Col de Ceyssat and bridged to the leaders while Sagan fell out the back of pursuers. Cosnefroy could no longer hold on with the pace and was dropped by the front group. Meanwhile behind, Sivakov, Carthy, Martinez and De La Cruz went off in search of the leaders the move soon luring Kämna across.
When Geschke took the 10 points on the top of the Col de Ceyssat and 47kms of racing, the Sivakov group was joined by Edet, Powless, Rolland and Barguil.
The chasing group changed rider ingredients several times, until after the second KOM of the day at 63 of 192 kilometres where Pierre Rolland and Barguil took the points, most of the chasers joined the five leaders to form a 17 rider lead group which now included Sivakov, Kämna, Barguil, Carthy, Martínez, Powless, Edet, De La Cruz, Rolland, Schachmann, Sicard, Madouas, Cavagna, Alaphilippe, Geschke, Martin and Soler.
The new supergroup built a lead over the peloton of five and a half minutes two kilometres from the top of the Col de Guéry.
With 112km to go, Carthy and Madouas took off from the supergroup but both were recaptured, first Carthy and then Madouas after he took the KOM points on the Col de la Stèle.
Back in the peloton when the leaders reached 82kms to go, a nasty crash took down Romain Bardet (AG2R) who appeared that he'd taken a blow to his head. The crash also forced the abandonment of Bauke Mollema, who came into the start of the Tour as co-leader of Trek-Segafredo alongside Richie Porte.
As Bardet and also Nairo Quintana chased back on, the peloton sportingly took their foot off the pedal until they'd rejoined the bunch.
Caleb Ewan lost touch with the peloton for a long time on the next climb and worryingly looked like he would not make the time cut, the broom wagon looming behind, but he finally made it back on.
Rolland again took the two points atop the Cote de l’Estadie at 60 kilometres remaining in the race with Madouas taking the remaining point. The peloton took the pressure off in the chase, with the lead of the early attackers allowed to balloon out to eleven minutes.
Powless attacked the break, slipping away on a downhill section with 43 kilometres to go and quickly building a lead. Schachmann attacked over to Powless, jumping clear of the group with 36 kilometres remaining. He made it over to Powless and the pair worked together before the American climb was dropped by the German as they headed up the steep slopes of the Col de Neronne.
Critérium du Dauphiné winner Martinez took off in pursuit of Schachmann, but had to drag Schachmann's BORA-hansgrohe teammate Kämna with him. The pair caught Schachmann with 1.6 kilometres remaining, with Kämna attacking Martinez immediately. Martinez was able to respond and Schachmann battled back to hold the front group.
Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) forced the pace on the early slopes of the Col de Neronne, eliminating third and fourth on the general classification prior to stage, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) from the front group. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) took over the pace-making, keeping Martin off the back of the group chasing solo.
The steep slopes of the final kilometres to Puy de Mary cracked Schachmann, with Martinez and Kämna exchanging attacks but unable to create a decisive advantage. It came down to the final dash to the line, with Kämna opening up his final attack from 150 metres left to ride, but Martinez came around the German to claim the victory comfortably.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) started the fireworks in the general classification, attacking the pace-setting of Jumbo-Visma and putting paid to the helpers of Primož Roglič with his attack. Roglič was able to follow his Slovenian compatriot, with Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) the best of the rest, forging his way across the gap to the top two.
Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) were initially with Porte, but couldn't hold the Australian's wheel, while they were bigger problems for defending champion Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) who was stuck even further behind.
Roglič and Pogačar pushed out their advantage in the last few hundred metres, finishing clear and cementing their status as the top best climbers in the race.
The 2020 Tour de France continues with Stage 14, a 194-kilometre day in the mountains of the Massif Central, from Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon. Watch the race on the SBS ŠKODA Tour Tracker, SBS HD and SBS On Demand with coverage starting from 8.30 AEST.
