Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe remains the man of the Tour de France, with more than a minute and thirty lead in the overall standings, but the challenge of the third week is immense.
It was a bit too much for this time after vainly trying to follow the acceleration of Thibaut Pinot less than six kilometers from the summit, Alaphilippe is suddenly back on earth. The Frenchman cut his effort, touched his limits and tried, up, to push them back, to finally finish at 1 minute 16 seconds of Pinot, the most threatening in the mountain, and 27 seconds of Geraint Thomas, his current runner-up overall.
It was question 1 since he took his first yellow jersey, after a big coup to Epernay. Alaphilippe would be able to chain the huge efforts, flat and mountain, for three week. His cousin and coach Franck Alaphilippe had repeated it several times during the week.
It is still far from an explosion in full flight, especially on the eve of the day of rest. But the long minutes taken by the Frenchman at the top to recover from his effort, the wide grimaces that have disfigured him throughout the last 5 kilometers, remind him that he did not come on the Tour to win it. That he was right to be cautious in hammering that he must not dream, that the hardest is yet to come.
Alaphilippe has been the focus of attention of French supporters and will return to wear yellow shirts for the eleven elections in the next Tour de France stage around Nimes which is expected to be 40 degrees Celsius.
“He is clearly the man of this Tour and as long as it does not explode, we will be in trouble,” the sports director of Ineos, Nicolas Portal, said.
“He’s the best. [During the time trial] yesterday he was riding faster than anyone on the climbs, faster than anyone on the flat and on the downhill. There’s no regret, he’s just the strongest, you have to accept that.” Portal added.
