Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), the defending Tour de France champion, expects a GC battle in Friday's rugged summit finish on the Puy Marie in Massif Central.

Bernal, who is second overall and 21 seconds behind race leader Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma), rode through Thursday's longest stage of the Tour without any major incidents, but still said he had "a lot of hard racing."

"Stage 13 has the second highest climb, the Col de Neronne, before the final climb to Puy Marie.

"It's not just the climbs, it's the distance," Bernal said after stage 12. I expect a big gap."

Unlike Rogulic, who will wear the maillot jaune, Bernal will go into Friday's stage knowing nothing about the climb, but said he and his teammates came to check out the climb earlier this year.

"We scouted it, neither of them were very long, but they were really hard climbs," he said. We have to fight hard."

"We're going to have to fight hard. It's hard to predict what difference it will make, but we have to be ready."

Bernal said.

Bernal confirmed that the hilly course of stage 13 was tough on the legs. He noted that "Bora-Hansgrohe was pulling pretty hard for [green jersey contender] Peter Sagan," but despite the time bonus offered on the final stage's Suc-au-May climb, the battle between the GC favorites never materialized.

"The bonus seconds on the stage could have been part of the competition, and we didn't know if there would be a fight over it. In the end, all the bonuses were won by Blake, but there was a fierce race behind him as well," Bernal said.

Bernal was pleased that Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb), whom he knew from the Tour de Lavenir, won the stage.

"I think he was on the team with [Ineos Grenadier's] Pavel [Sivakov] a few years ago. But he was more circumspect when asked if Hirschi might join the overall contenders for the Tour de France in the future.

"There is certainly a new generation, with Tadej Pogachar, Remco Evenpole, Pavel, and me. But there are other riders with more experience who are also in the fight," he warned.

Bernal did not need to name names, but it is clear that the Slovenian rider in yellow is now included in the latter group. And even if there is some sort of truce between the two on Thursday, the story will change on Friday.