Julian Alaphilippe flies the flag for a new generation of French riders, wining the 10th stage of the 2018 Tour de France today in Le Grand-Bornand and taking the KOM jersey.
Maiden Tour de France Victory for Julian Alaphilippe
Overcome with emotion after a majestic mountain raid, Julian Alaphilippe basked in joy and glory at the finish in Le Grand-Bornand, where he seized the day, earning not only his maiden Tour de France stage victory, but also the prestigious polka dot jersey. All this came at the end of a 158.5km-long stage peppered with five classified climb, four of which were won by Julian, the same rider who initiated the day’s breakaway which numbered 21 riders, including teammate Philippe Gilbert.
“I came close to winning a stage at my debut two years ago and I know it’s not easy to get a stage in the Tour de France, that’s why I am overwhelmed with emotion. It’s really amazing, I can’t even find my words, but I’m thinking about my family and I’m really glad to have made them happy. It’s for sure an amazing day, it couldn’t have been better than this”, Julian said, beaming with happiness, in Le Grand-Bornand, where a Tour de France stage finished for only the fourth time in history.
On Tuesday, the riders faced the first mountain stage of the 105th edition, one which packed the steep Montée des Glières, with its unsurfaced plateau – which Julian knew well from the 2013 Tour de l’Avenir, where he won that stage – Col de Romme and Col de la Colombière, last of these peaking 14.5 kilometers from the finish. Julian laid the foundations of his memorable victory on the penultimate ascent, when he set out in pursuit of lone leader Rein Taaramae (Direct Energie), catching him with two kilometers to go to the top and dropping the Estonian to claim maximum points, before flying over the short descent to the bottom of the last climb.
Going onto Colombière, Julian had a lead of over a minute on his closest chaser and kept extending the advantage on the 7.5km-climb averaging 8.5%, as the continued to add more points to his tally and speed down the descent, which he mastered to perfection, inching closer to an emphatic and well-deserved win. With two kilometers to go, the 26-year-old began to smile and wave to the camera, knowing that the maiden Tour de France victory was in his pocket, and came with a bonus, the KOM jersey, which he donned in the Savoyard resort for the first time in his career.
Taking a stage in the Tour de France has always been a dream and turning it into reality feels extraordinary
“It was a hard day, especially in the last 30 kilometers, when I was alone, but that makes this moment even more special and beautiful”, explained Julian, whose 2018 season includes victories also at Colombia Oro y Paz, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Flèche Wallonne and Critérium du Dauphiné.
The 50th French rider to lead the mountain classification at Le Tour, a reward that came after a brilliant ride which showcased panache, Julian stressed out that taking home the jersey isn’t a goal at this point in the race, despite amassing an important number of points: “It’s an honor to wear the iconic polka dot jersey, but I’m not thinking yet of winning it. I will just take it day by day, while at the same time continuing to help my team and Bob – who is fifth in the overall standings. There’s a long way to go until Paris and we hope to do other beautiful things before we reach it.”
Van Avermaet Extends Lead
Greg Van Avermaet showed his champion’s mentality today by going on the attack early into the first mountain stage of the Tour de France before finishing fourth on the line and extending his overall lead on the General Classification.
After rolling out of Annecy, the peloton almost immediately reached the base of the first climb, the Col de Bluffy, and despite various attacks, the race was altogether going over the summit after 19km of racing.
Soon after, a large group of riders jumped off the front of the main bunch with race leader Van Avermaet, who started the day with a 43-second lead, going on the offensive by reacting quickly and bridging across to the front of the race.
The 21-rider strong breakaway began to split approaching the summit of the 11.3km long Col de la Croix Fry, which had an average gradient of 7%, and on the descent a select group of eight riders, including the yellow jersey, was drawn out at the front of the race.
On the early slopes of the brutal hors catégorie Montée du Plateau des Glières, a 6km climb with an average gradient of 11.6% and 1.8km of dirt roads at the top, the leaders were around 30 seconds in front of the chasers from the earlier move while the rest of the field sat more than four minutes back.
Nearing the summit of the climb, the Van Avermaet-led front group started to swell once again and, despite an attack on the white gravel roads, which came with less than 90km to go, the 18 leaders remained together and were even able to push their advantage out to over seven minutes on the descent.
On the flatter run into the final two category one climbs, the Col de Romme and the Col de la Columbière, which both had average gradients of over 8%, the peloton started to slowly eat into the advantage of Van Avermaet and his fellow race leaders.
However, in the end, Alaphilippe was able to hold onto his advantage to take a solo victory while Van Avermaet crossed the line 1’44” behind the stage winner which saw him extend his overall lead out to 2’22” going into another hard day of climbing tomorrow.
After his impressive effort, Van Avermaet was also awarded the prize for the Most Combative Rider of the stage.
“It was a hard day but two years ago, I also went into the breakaway in the yellow jersey so, it was super nice for me to spend the day in yellow in the mountains,” Van Avermaet said at the finish. “I was waiting to find the right moment and when the big move went, I decided to give it a go and see how Team Sky reacted and they didn’t. I had to ride really hard to catch the breakaway but once I was there, and we directly took six to seven minutes, I knew it could be a good day for me.
“I was not thinking about keeping the jersey at the start of the day but you have to read the race situation and that’s what I did. I think I waited for the right moment and got into a big group with guys who were going to try to go for the stage. I was then able to keep the yellow jersey for an extra day. I went really deep today and tomorrow is really a climber’s stage and it will be super hard to keep the jersey. I have no intention of trying to keep it. Today was really the only day that I could do it but I think after tomorrow it will be over.”
Sagan In “No Man’s Land”
Peter Sagan spent much of the stage in the “No Man’s Land” – ahead of the peloton, but chasing the stage leaders. The World Champion cyclist was eager to maintain his lead in the points classification and help protect his team’s G.C. leader Rafal Majka.
“Today was the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour, so our main goal was to defend Rafał’s GC chances,” Sagan said. “Together with Lukas, I went into the breakaway to contest the intermediate sprint. I took the sprint and increased my lead by 20 points. We went back to the peloton to work for Rafał and help him. There are another 11 stages and we will fight for our chances every day.”
“I suffered a lot today. I never really found my rhythm on the last two climbs when Sky raised the pace,” Rafal Majka added. “I tried everything to follow their wheels but on the last 500m on the Colombière I couldn’t keep up anymore. Sometimes after a rest day, I have some troubles like today. Fortunately, I didn’t lose too much time, so still, everything is possible. There are another two hard stages in the Alps, and afterwards, we‘ll know where we are.”
Pierre Latour Takes Best Young Rider Jersey
“It’s always nice to get the white jersey for the best young rider,” Latour told the media. “Beyond that, I am pleased to have stayed with Romain until the end of the stage. There are still big days waiting for us, the road is still long. Today, our goal was to put some notches in the mountains. It is always difficult to know how the body will react after a rest day. It was really fast, we saw some favorites crack on the Colombière. I think it’s a good day for the AG2R LA MONDIALE team. It gives us even more morale.”
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