Three days after turning 27, Julian Alaphilippe made himself a beautiful and hard-worked gift – a second career stage victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné. To add to his delight, the win came with a bonus in the shape of the prestigious polka-dot jersey as leader of the King of the Mountains competition. For Julian, who has enjoyed a stellar season so far, it was the tenth win since the month of January, which sees him stay at the top of the 2019 victory rankings.
Stage 6 of the French World Tour race contained eight classified climbs and had the riders navigate a long course of 229 kilometers between Saint-Vulbas Plaine de l’Ain and Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne. Surprisingly, only three men decided to take on this rugged territory via the breakaway, attacking and getting a gap after 12 kilometers: Julian Alaphilippe, Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) and Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-hansgrohe).
On the lengthy valley road that took them to the first ascent of the day, which averaged a whisker over 7%, the trio’s advantage reached 11 minutes. Surprisingly it continued to stretch further until after the feed zone, when several teams joined forces and upped the pace, scratching off two minutes in the Maurienne valley, the ancestral passage traversed by Hannibal and his army during his famous campaign to invade Rome.
Alaphilippe continued to score in the KOM classification, making sure he would don the polka-dot jersey at the end of day. The last ascent of the stage was Col de Beaune, which made its debut on the Critérium du Dauphiné, and it was on this 8.1km-long climb averaging 6% that the concord between the escapees went up in smokes. Following these numerous skirmishes, De Marchi was dropped and didn’t return at the front, as Julian and Muhlberger continued to push on the technical descent.
Calm and carefully biding his time in the strong headwind at the finish, the Milano-Sanremo champion opened his sprint with only 120 meters to go and held off the Austrian, nabbing the stage for the width of a tyre. After two trips to the podium – for the stage honours and the best climber jersey – the charismatic Frenchman talked of what winning in front of his home fans meant for him.
“I’m always hungry and every victory is important, but to take a stage at the Dauphiné – my first race of the season in France – is really special and makes me extremely happy. The stage was long and hard, but we worked well together and opened that huge gap. In the sprint, I knew that Gregor was explosive and that with the headwind it was important not to go too early. It’s a beautiful win, good for my confidence before the Tour de France, and the fact that it brought me also the blue jersey makes it a really perfect day”, said Julian after netting Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s 36th success of the year.
Mitchelton-SCOTT worked to keep Adam Yates safe once again to maintain his overall race lead. With his teammates surrounding him, Yates was never in trouble and made it through the stage to finish in eighth place, six-minutes behind Alaphilippe.
“It wasn’t a full gas stage. The three guys away were quite far down on the GC and everyone else was happy with what we were doing. On the last climb, we expected the race to be a little harder.
“It’s a short stage tomorrow and the day after, so I’m sure a lot of guys want to break away. There’ll be a long climb of 20km to finish with.
“I almost haven’t done anything like that this year yet but I feel good. It’s hard to say what will happen. We’re all still very close on GC.”
Stage 6 Brief Results:
- Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) in 6h00’54”
- Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
- Alessandro de Marchi (CCC) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 6:
- Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) at 23h35’04”
- Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) at 4″
- Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) at 6″
Ron is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.
Websites:
Bike World News
Ron’s Bike Garage
Current Bike Quiver:
Bird Bikes Zero 29 29″ hardtail mountain bike
Commencal Absolut 26″ Dirt Jump/Pump Track bike
Commencal Tempo 29″ full suspension mountain bike
Felt ZA 700c race bike
Kona Kilauea vintage 26″ mountain bike
Niner RLT9 700c road/gravel bike
Specialized Stumpjumper vintage 26″ mountain bike
Day Job: Digital Marketing
Night Job: Digital Marketing, eCommerce Consultant, Web Consultant, Bike Shop Operator, Husband, Dad, Tenor