As Fred Wright ran down the finish straight on the Rue Claude Verny-Caron in Saint-Etienne, one might have thought that his chance for the biggest win of his career had already passed him by.

A three-man sprint in the shadow of the Stade Jofroit Guichard, however, brought the expected result. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won the 13th stage of the Tour de France, while Wright had to settle for second place ahead of Hugo Uhl (Israel Premier Tech).

As heartbreaking as the Tour can be, Wright made light of his disappointment. He politely walked through the Trek-Segafredo entourage to congratulate the day's winner.

A little further down the street, Wright stopped in front of a barrier and told reporters about his encounter with immortality. The day before, his friend and contemporary Tom Pidcock (Ineos) had won on the summit of the Alpe d'Huez, and when the Tour left the Alps in 1995, another Brit, Max Chandri, had broken and won in this city. Despite the previous success, Pedersen's strength in the finale was undisputed. There was nothing to do. [Wright, who followed Pedersen's decisive move with 12.5km to go, said, "It's pretty special for the two of us to win two stages in a row. 'To beat Mads, I had to go with the little kicker at the end. But to be honest, I didn't have the legs."

After the previous two days of grueling racing in the Alps, few in the entire peloton had the legs to endure a day in front like Wright. At 50km into the stage, he successfully bridged to the break of the day, and a glance at the pace line dossard confirmed that he was in an elite group. He was convinced right from the start that the move was going to be a long one.

As well as Pedersen and Houle, Wright was replaced by time trial world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos), Stefan Kühn (Groupama-FDJ), Quinn Simons (Trek-Segafredo) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar). Alpecin Deceuninck and Lotto Soudal were chasing, at least until Caleb Yuan fell off the bike.

"Honestly, I was happy to finish safely. I had said before the stage that I wanted to get into the breakaway, but I couldn't quite do it," said Wright, who traveled to Lausanne last weekend and then to Megève on Tuesday.

Wright was a rare bright spot in a troubled Tour for Berlain-Victorius. The team started the race in a storm after its hotel was searched by police as part of a Europol investigation into alleged "banned drug use" in Copenhagen on the eve of the Grande Palais. Earlier in the week, the homes of racers and staff were also searched in Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia.

Whereas established riders like Matej Mohoric and Damiano Caruso have been strangely subdued, the 23-year-old Wright has been an enthusiastic presence in his second Tour appearance; he was already aggressive in the Tour de Flanders, where he finished seventh Wright continues to ride the same way in the white-hot heat of July. In fact, the temperatures did not stop rising in the second week, even over the Rhone on Friday. Wright joked that the most effective way to beat the heat was to stay off the front of the pack.

"It's better to be in the break because there's always ice and you can cover your head with water," Wright said. 'So it's not bad for an English kid.'

For most of the stage, Wright and his companions were allies in a situation where they combined to fend off a chase, but when it became clear that their lead was unassailable, the companions quickly morphed into enemies. Pedersen, who finished as fast as he was reputed to, attacked with 12.5 km to go and decided to get even first. Wright had the strength to keep up, but was not to be passed. Pedersen, on the other hand, rode sharply to avoid any late surprises.

"To be honest I was surprised when he attacked. But I think he was stronger than me. But I think he was stronger than me. I was surprised when Mads came charging up the climb and I couldn't make the moves I needed to get over the top of him. To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed.