A visibly emotional Heinrich Haussler had the perfect day after a stunning Stage 13 ride saw him earn his first Tour de France victory. The Cervelo TestTeam rider's daredevil descending on the 200 kilometre ride from Vittel to Colmar ensured he finished a comfortable four minutes 11 seconds ahead of Euskaltel-Euskadi's Amets Txurrukax, with Brice Feillu (Agritubel) in third.

"Today was perfect," Haussler told Eurosport. "I only live about 30km from here so you could say it's my training area and also this weather, I love the rain and the cold. At the beginning it was difficult because there are a lot of good riders in the group and the peloton behind were chasing the whole time.

"They didn't let us go so I just tried to split it up a bit because there were too many good hill climbers there and I knew as the day would go on I would get stronger and the others would get weaker because I just love this type of weather and it's really good for me."

Haussler had led for the majority of the stage along with Ruben Perez Moreno and Sylvain Chavanel.