Alaphilippe shrugs off overall ambitions in the Tour de France
And on Bastille Day, he rested. Julian Alaphilippe became the 18th Frenchman to wear the yellow jersey on the national holiday, but after his all-action opening to the Tour de France, it was a rare afternoon of relative calm for the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider on the road from Saint-Étienne to Brioude.
Some of Alaphilippe's forebears in the maillot jaune have enjoyed (or endured, as the case may be) days of high drama on July 14. In 1997, Cédric Vasseur surpassed himself in the Pyrenees to retain the jersey at Loudenvielle, for instance, just as Thomas Voeckler did at Luz-Ardiden in 2011. Thirty years ago, Laurent Fignon entertained on the road to Marseille with an unexpected sortie in the company of Charly Mottet, on a stage eventually won by Vincent Barteau.
Alaphilippe's Bastille Day was rather more straightforward. He finished safely in the main peloton that rolled home more than 16 minutes behind stage winner Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott). The sole frisson was provided by local favourite Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), who launched a defiant but doomed acceleration on the final ascent of the Côte de Saint-Just, though Alaphilippe's jersey was never under threat. He remains 23 seconds clear of Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) atop the overall standings.
Ordinarily, this stage through the Massif Central might have lent itself to Alaphilippe's qualities as a puncheur, but the jersey on his back, not to mention his accumulated efforts over the opening week, meant that a more conservative approach was advisable.
"When you're in yellow, there are things that change," Alaphilippe said. "Today I might normally have attacked but it wasn't necessary. Yesterday I had to attack to take the jersey and I enjoyed it.
"Today went well for us. We let the break take a good advantage to show that we didn't want to bring it back together. The finale was still difficult, and Bardet's attack hurt everybody."
The road ahead
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