The host nation's Tour de France slump looks set to continue for at least another year after Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) were separated by the yellow jersey group on the Col de Neronne, the finale of stage 13 to Puy Marie It is.

Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked on the final steep climb to Puy Marie, opening a 38-second gap to Egan Bernal (Ineos) on a day when both Martin and Bardet were more than two minutes behind the yellow jersey to lose more than two minutes and slip out of the overall top 10.

Martin started the day in third place overall, 28 seconds behind Roglic, but by the finish of Le Puy Marie, the Slovenian was 2:46 behind and 3:14 back in 12th place. Bardet was 2:30 behind and 3:00 behind in 11th place, down from 4th overall.

Bardet, the AG2R leader, fell in the same crash that forced Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) to retire with 90km remaining. Bardet slowly rejoined the race and managed to keep up the chase, but appeared to be suffering from the effects of that crash as he dropped out of the pack of contenders for the win at the same time as Martín.

Ineos Grenadier set the tempo before being replaced by Jumbo Visma, and Martin and Bardet pulled away from the yellow jersey group by more than 20 seconds on the Neronne pass with 11km to go. With 11km to go, Martin and Bardet were 20 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group on the Col de Neronne.

Martin rode up the summit of the Néronne 10 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group, but the gap widened further on the plateau leading to the base of the Puy Marie, where Mikel Landa's Bahrain McLaren teammate, Pero Bilbao, took over his wheel. As the gradient tightened at Le Puy Marie, Martin's gap widened further and he was caught and passed by Bardet on the final climb.

"I was dropped near the top [of Neronne]. I didn't make a big mistake, but I crossed the summit 10 seconds behind and that changed the race," Martin told French television. "I was alone in the flat transition before the final climb. I lost a lot of time on the last climb. It was a bad day, but the Tour is not over yet."

The 27-year-old Martín, who has been in good form in his three previous Tour appearances, enters the 2020 edition in great form after finishing third in the Criterium du Dauphiné. Martín was impressive on stage 4 at Orcières-Mellet and Saturday's Peyresur pass, but was caught in a crash on stage 10 at Ile de Ré. He described his struggles in Puy Marie as "mauvais jour."

"It's hard to explain in the heat of the moment, but just the other riders were strong. 'It was a bad day,' he said. But anyway, it doesn't change my motivation going forward."

Martín, who had started the Tour with a public statement that he was aiming for a stage win rather than a top overall finish, touched on the subject in an interview with Cycling News earlier this year, noting that his 12th place finish in the 2019 race had passed with little attention.

"I was consistent every day, but there was no grand gesture," Martin said of last year's race." I was satisfied with my work ethic, but it was a tool where I felt like something was missing."

Currently more than three minutes behind Roglic and two minutes off the podium, he may be able to move more freely down the road.

The disappointment would have been more pronounced for Bardet, who raced on his home roads in Auvergne and had his best run in the early stages of the Tour since he made the podium three years ago.

"Today couldn't have gone any worse. 'There was a rider who lost control in front of me. I dodged him, but he went down at 65 km/h. I hit my head and had to recover from that. I hit my head and had to work hard to get back up. The crash left a mark on my right leg. After the crash I lost all sensation. It's a day I'll never forget from a sporting point of view. It was like I was cursed. Now I will recover and try to win the stage. Overall classification" It's too far now. It's a shame because everything was going so well. It's a big stroke of bad luck."

Bardet and Martin will try to live up to it down the road, but with Thibaut Pinot and Julien Alaphilippe out of contention for the yellow jersey in the Pyrenees, France's hopes of closing the 35-year gap to Bernard Hinault's last Tour win seems to have vanished in Massif-Saint-Lar.