Frenchman builds race lead with stunning time-trial win
Inspired PAU, FRANCE — by his yellow jersey, Julian Alaphilippe held off defending champion Geraint Thomas to win the only individual time trial stage of this Tour de France on Friday, a shock victory to raise French hopes that he could go all the way in yellow to Paris next week.
Cheered on by boisterous crowds hammering on roadside barriers, Alaphilippe sprang a surprise in his margin of victory on the tricky, hilly, turn-filled loop south of Pau, with spectacular views of the Pyrenees.
Having previously predicted that he’d lose time to Thomas, an expert in the race against the clock, Alaphilippe stunned even himself by emphatically relegating the Welshman into second place, 14 seconds slower.
“It’s incredible,” Alaphilippe said, adding that his performance reduced members of his team to tears.
“I didn’t think I’d win. I was transported by the maillot jaune (yellow jersey).”
His second stage victory of this Tour — he also was victorious on Stage 3 — came 100 years to the day since the jersey was first awarded to a rider, on July 19, 1919, to Frenchman Eugene Christophe.
All eyes turn to the Pyrenees to see whether Alaphilippe can continue his dream race today ascending the legendary Tourmalet, the first of seven climbs to above 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in the highest Tour in the race’s 116-year history.
Alaphilippe has held the race lead for a total of nine days, wowing French fans crossing fingers and toes for their first homegrown champion since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
He leads Thomas by 1 minute, 26 seconds overall, a sizable margin that could still melt like the Pyrenees’ last snows in the July heat if he wilts on the punishing Tourmalet and, next week, in the Alps.
He furiously sought to downplay the rising expectations after his barnstorming performance in Pau, repeating that he is thinking only “day by day” and stressing that holding his own on steep high mountains and the long uphill finish to the Tourmalet would be a completely different challenge to the 27-kilometer (17-mile) time-trial route.
“One mustn’t dream,” Alaphilippe said.
Thomas was among those stunned by the Frenchman’s ride.
“I didn’t really expect that,” he said. “He’s obviously going incredibly well, so he’s certainly the favorite and the one to watch.”
Given the doping-stained history of cycling and the Tour, Alaphilippe immediately faced a question in his winner’s news conference about the believability of his performance, which he batted away, seemingly unruffled.
“If it creates suspicions, that’s the way it is,” he said. “I’m just riding my bike in the way I like.”
Alaphilippe has said he expects to suffer in the high mountains, where the likes of Thomas and specialist climbers are expected to shine. But given how Alaphilippe has continued to confound expectations with his punchy riding and gritty determination to stay in yellow, fewer are predicting he can’t ride up the Champs-Elysees in the lead on July 28.
Belgian rider Thomas De Gendt, third on Stage 13 and 36 seconds slower than Alaphilippe, was among those saying he could go all the way. “He can surprise everybody,” De Gendt said.
Behind Thomas and Alaphilippe, there was significant movement in the overall standings. Steven Kruijswijk, fifth in Paris last year, vaulted to third overall. But his deficit to Alaphilippe grew to 2:12, having been just 1:27 off the lead before the French rider’s time-trial tour de force.