Denmark's Mads Pedersen achieved his first Grand Tour stage victory after topping today's race at the Tour de France ©Getty Images

Denmark's Mads Pedersen stormed to his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Tour de France after leading a breakaway on stage 13 of the competition.

Britain's Fred Wright and Canada's Hugo Houle battled Pedersen, representing Trek-Segafredo, in the final sprint but the Dane proved to be too strong as he accelerate all the way to the finish in 4 hours 13min 03sec.

Switzerland's Stefan Küng finished fourth as the United States' Matteo Jorgenson came fifth.

The flat stage stretched 193 kilometres with riders cycling from Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne.

The defining moment of the race came 15km away from the end when Pedersen's attack left Italy's Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers, Jorgenson of Movistar and Küng of Groupama-FDJ in the dust.

Only Pedersen, Houle and Wright remained as the finish line approached.

Despite attempts were made from the Swiss cyclist wearing the colours of Israel–Premier Tech and the Briton riding for Team Bahrain Victorious to catch the Dane, Pedersen could not be caught once he commenced his final attack with 500 metres to go.

The 193km stage 13 from Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne was largely flat with the decisive move in the race not coming until near the end ©Getty Images
The 193km stage 13 from Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne was largely flat with the decisive move in the race not coming until near the end ©Getty Images

"It's incredible to finally take a [Grand Tour stage] win," Pedersen, the 2019 world road race champion, said following the race.

"I definitely missed out on the opportunities in the first week and in the last two weeks of this race there’s not a lot of chances for a guy like me.

"So to get the chance today and take the reward, it's really nice.

"Not just for me but for the whole team.

"We came here to ride only for stages and now we have one so it's such a relief."

Denmark is enjoying a remarkable Tour de France.

Pedersen is the third rider from the country which hosted the Grand Départ to win in the last four stages following Magnus Cort on Tuesday (July 12) and Jonas Vingegaard on Wednesday (July 13).

There were no changes at the top of the general classification with Vingegaard keeping his overall lead.

The Jumbo-Visma cyclist still has a 2min 22sec advantage over UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia and a 2:26 lead against Ineos Grenadiers' Geraint Thomas of Britain.

The next stage, due to be held tomorrow, is scheduled to see riders travel 192.5km from Saint-Étienne to Mende.