Daring descent keeps Alaphilippe in yellow
SAINT-MICHEL-DE-MAURIENNE, France — With the Alps spread like giant teeth in front of him and rivals speeding away, seeking to steal the precious yellow jersey off his back, Julian Alaphilippe switched off the part of the brain that stops normal people from taking death-defying risks.
Then the French cyclist showed he is no normal person.
Downward he plunged, flying through hairpin bends on tires barely wider than his thumb. The lunar-like landscape of giant slopes of barren scree became a blur as he hit top speeds of close to 55 mph.
“It was a day of folly,” Alaphilippe said.
“I unplugged my brain and I was on the limit on each bend,” the Deceuninck–QuickStep rider continued. “I did a crazy descent where I took risks. I wanted to save my jersey.”
Done — at least for one more day at this riveting Tour de France.
With another significant high-elevation stage completed and just two more to go, the man who was clad in polka dots as King of the Mountains at last year’s Tour is still in yellow — and one step closer to delivering the first win since 1985 for his country, crossing fingers, toes and everything else that he makes it through the Alps to Paris on Sunday still in the lead.
“We’re all dreaming of that,” the 27-year-old Alaphilippe said. “Even I’m starting to imagine it.”
Continuing to contribute more than anyone to making this the most exciting Tour in decades, Alaphilippe recovered from a mini wilt on a lung-burning ascent to 8,668 feet above sea level on the Galibier pass, then rode like a fury downhill on the other side.
With a decisive, well-placed attack on the slopes of the Galibier — the last of three climbs
to above 6,500 feet on Stage 18 — Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal of Team Ineos got away from Alaphilippe and ate into his overall lead. A slow descent or, worse, a fall from Alaphilippe on the treacherous bends could have helped Bernal do even greater damage to Alaphilippe’s advantage or perhaps erase it entirely.
Alaphilippe has proven like a dog with a bone when it comes to that iconic shirt, though. He has now worn yellow for 13 stages at this Tour, the most by any French rider at a single edition since Bernard Hinault held it for 17 days while winning the race for a fifth time in 1985.
The upside for rivals trying to wrench it from his jaws is that the last two Alpine stages to the ski stations of Tignes and Val Thorens both finish with punishing ascents, meaning there’ll be no downhill for Alaphilippe to recover on, as he did Thursday, if he again cracks going uphill.
Bernal’s reward for speeding away from Alaphilippe was a jump from fifth to second in the overall standings. Having started the day 2 minutes,
2 seconds behind Alaphilippe, the 22-year-old is now just 90 seconds behind him, breathing down his neck and making an already thrilling race only more uncertain in its outcome after more than 1,850 miles covered through Belgium and France.
“It’s very good for the morale, but Julian demonstrated once again that he is very strong,” Bernal said. “Everything is possible. I’m in the mix, but to win the Tour is difficult.”
Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour champion and a teammate of Bernal, tried to make it a one-two punch on the Galibier pass by also attacking on the last hairpins leading to the top, but Thomas couldn’t make his offensive stick. Alaphilippe caught him again on the downhill to the finish.
Thomas is still 1:35 behind Alaphilippe, as he was at the start of Stage 18, but slipped back to third overall.
Colombia’s Nairo Quintana won his first stage of this Tour, and the third of his career. The two-time Tour runner-up moved from 12th overall to seventh, 3:54 behind Alaphilippe.