American Floyd Landis of Phonak aims to retain the yellow jersey for a third day after the Beziers to Montelimar stage

Quickstep's Belgian rider Tom Boonen looks in relaxed mood as he signs autographs for fans before the 13th stage begins

American David Zabriskie of CSC shares a joke with compatriot Landis as they prepare to take on the Tour's longest stage

Oscar Pereiro Sio, Sylvain Chavanel (above) Jens Voigt, Manuel Quinziato and Andriy Grivko break away early on

As the leading group enter the feed stage at 122km, the Phonak team head up the peloton 19 minutes adrift

Ukraine's Andriy Grivko has to change bikes after breaking the chain but soon catches up with the rest of the leading group

The gap in front of the peloton stretches still further as the riders endure temperatures approaching 34C

With Grivko lagging 20 seconds behind, Pereiro and Voigt get away from Chavanel and Quinziato with 5km to go

German CSC rider Jens Voigt beats Spain's Oscar Pereiro over the line in a sprint finish after 230 gruelling kilometres

But Caisse d'Epargne rider Pereiro does enough to claim the race-leader's yellow jersey from Floyd Landis