Alaphilippe: we do not have the team to win the Tour de France
Tour de France leader Julian Alaphilippe admitted yesterday his yellow jersey was “hanging by a thread” as the race heads into its final week.
The 27-year-old Deceuninck-Quick Step rider, looking to become the first Frenchman to win the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985, said during yesterday’s rest day that “the toughest is yet to come”.
Alaphilippe has worn the famed yellow jersey for 11 days and will start today’s Stage 16 – where temperatures are expected to hit 40°C – with a 1min 35sec lead over second placed Geraint Thomas, the defending champion wearing the colours of Team Ineos.
“One minute thirty ahead, that is a lot and very little at the same time,” said Alaphilippe. “One weakness on a mountain over 15, 20 kilometres and it is all over.”
Alaphilippe surprised most people by coming out of the Pyrenees on Sunday with his yellow jersey intact albeit with a slightly reduced lead. After two relatively flat transition days, however, the race moves back into the mountains on Thursday with three stages in the Alps, each with a summit finish over 2,000 metres.
They culminate in Saturday’s penultimate stage at Val Thorens which has a total ascent of 4,450 metres.
Alaphilippe was at pains to play down his chances of holding on to the yellow jersey until Sunday, when the race ends on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
“The climb up Val Thorens will be terrible right up to the summit,” said Alaphilippe. “When I look at the profile of these stages in the Alps, I tell myself that my jersey is hanging by a thread. We don’t have the team to win the Tour.”
Ineos boss Dave Brailsford said Alaphilippe has changed the way teams are tackling the race. “[He] has gained time on everyone with great style, his presence has changed the way all the other teams are riding too, not just us. He’s created a ripple effect,” said Brailsford.
“If [he] pulls it off he’s on another level to everyone If he was to win this race, he’ll be one of the greatest riders of all time.”