Cycling Weekly – July 25, 2019

8 | July 25, 2019 | Cycling Weekly

NEWS

FRENCH

RENAISSANCE

The French media are predictably

over the moon about the positions

of Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut

Pinot in the general classification.

Incredibly, Deceuninck’s

effervescent puncheur Alaphilippe

has not simply hung on to the

yellow jersey, but continued to

ride in his thoroughly aggressive

style, extending his lead. While

the punchy nature of the Pau TT

certainly helped him, he’s drawn

his motivation both from the yellow

jersey and from the French fans who

are willing him to retain it.

On the Tourmalet, he pushed

his lead out to two minutes. “I saw

some big names, some great riders,

blowing up while I didn’t, and that

motivated me and enabled me to

fight right to the line,” he said atop

the giant Pyrenean pass.

His undoing nearly arrived on Prat

d’Albis, where his aggressive nature

and confidence encouraged him

to follow Pinot, only to crack when

his compatriot pressed again. “I

made a mistake,” he acknowledged.

His coach and cousin, Franck

Alaphilippe

had suggested

before the

stage that the

number of

passes on that

stage would

cause the race

leader more

problems than

the shorter run to the Tourmalet. He

also forecast that if Alaphilippe does

relinquish the yellow jersey, “he will

lose it, and not by a few seconds”.

Alaphilippe said after Prat d’Albis

that if he doesn’t win the Tour

he would like the jersey to go to

Pinot, which seems a very possible

scenario for the race’s final days.

While France will be hoping one of

them prevails, Alaphilippe and Pinot

have reminded everyone that flair

and panache still have their place in

Grand Tour success.

“Any one of half a

dozen riders could

still win the Tour”

Pinot (right) is emerging as

France’s saviour in waiting

Alaphilippe’s riding

high in France

told Cycling Weekly. “I felt good at the top

and kind of like my old self again. I’m looking

forward to the Alps and wish we could just

keep going and not have this rest day.”

While Thomas wanted to press on, some

of his team-mates clearly needed the rest day.

Poels came good at Prat d’Albis and should

prove vital support in the Alps. Ineos will

be hoping that Gianni Moscon, Michał

Kwiatkowski and Jonathan Castroviejo can

do the same. “At the bottom of the last climb,

we had five guys. Most of the team is getting

better, so that’s encouraging for the future,”

Portal confirmed.

Then, of course, there is Egan Bernal, who

regained his time trial losses on the Pyrenean

summits and quietly nudged his way back

into yellow jersey contention. The rider who

stuck longest with Pinot on Prat d’Albis, the

Colombian is almost nailed on for the white

jersey as best young rider, but has not given

up on the yellow. “He feels very confident

again because after the TT he was quite

disappointed,” Portal admitted, adding that

his own confidence has been bolstered

because he has two cards to play. “It’s been a

good day for Egan and a good day for G,” he

said following Prat d’Albis. “They both played

it super smart and I think that’s probably one

of our strengths. To have both of them up

there is a big advantage for us.”

With the Alps looming large, any one of

half a dozen riders, including the French

contingent (see box); Steven Kruijswijk,

backed by probably the strongest team in the

race; and the surprise package of German

26-year-old Emanuel Buchman; could still

win the Tour, with the odds changing on each

of them almost incessantly. “Traditionally,

what happens in the Tour is that you get

towards the end of the race and people start

to hunker down, to conserve what they have

because minor places here have such a high

value,” said Wegelius, looking ahead to the

finale. “But this race isn’t following tradition

at all, and there’s plenty of kilometres above

2,000 metres in the last few days.”

Will altitude prove the difference between

them? “Maybe — it’s just another nail in the

coffin of someone who doesn’t have what it

takes,” Wegelius continued. “It might be the

altitude, they say there’s going to be a lot of

heat, but we’re talking more about a kind of

defaillance, riders suffering a jour sans.

Normally, riders start to be a

bit more defensive in the final

mountains, but I hope it’ll still

be as interesting in the Alps as

what we’ve seen so far.” If it is,

the 2019 Tour will go down as

a classic. Ph

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