Le Tour: Alaphilippe in the spotlight

A chaotic day in the Alps – the longest there at this edition – capped off a hard and spectacular second week of racing, and Julian Alaphilippe made sure of showing again the Soudal Quick-Step colours by attacking from kilometer zero despite the tough course ahead, which culminated with the Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc ascent (7km, 7.7%).
Alaphilippe was the first to show his intentions, and after being joined by Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), he remained at the front for almost half the stage, until the slopes of the day’s second classified climb, in the meantime winning the Bluffy intermediate sprint. The 31-year-old tried to remain in the large group that soon formed once the chasers bridged across, but the effort he put in up until that point and the steep gradients spelled the end of his action. Eventually, it was one of the riders in that move, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), who took the win on stage 15, while the general classification remained unchanged.
“I tried again. It was hard, but I am content. I had good legs in the beginning, so I went on the attack, but as the stage progressed, I had to let go of the break, despite giving my maximum. I have no regrets, because I did my best and had a lot of joy on the roads today. Things aren’t perfect when compared to the previous years, as I have high and lows, but I feel that I’m constantly improving compared to the opening weekend and I hope this will pay off at some point”, explained Soudal Quick-Step’s rider after his fourth day in the break at this edition.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
Race details
1 |
Wout Poels Bahrain - Victorious |
4:40:45 |
2 |
Wout van Aert Jumbo-Visma |
2:08 |
3 |
Mathieu Burgaudeau TotalEnergies |
3:00 |
4 |
Lawson Craddock Team Jayco AlUla |
3:10 |
5 |
Mikel Landa Meana Bahrain - Victorious |
3:14 |
6 |
Thibaut Pinot Groupama - FDJ |
3:14 |
7 |
Guillaume Martin Cofidis |
3:32 |
8 |
Mattias Skjelmose Jensen Lidl - Trek |
3:43 |
9 |
Simon Guglielmi Team Arkéa Samsic |
3:59 |
10 |
Warren Barguil Team Arkéa Samsic |
4:20 |
48 |
Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal - Quick Step |
19:40 |
88 |
Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step |
30:49 |
102 |
Tim Declercq
Soudal - Quick Step |
32:01 |
104 |
Yves Lampaert
Soudal - Quick Step |
32:01 |
115 |
Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step |
32:50 |
116 |
Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step |
32:50 |
156 |
Michael Mørkøv Christensen
Soudal - Quick Step |
37:22 |
1 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
62:34:17 |
2 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
0:10 |
3 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
5:21 |
4 |
Adam Yates UAE Team Emirates |
5:40 |
5 |
Jai Hindley BORA - hansgrohe |
6:38 |
6 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
9:16 |
7 |
Pello Bilbao López de Armentia Bahrain - Victorious |
10:11 |
8 |
Simon Yates Team Jayco AlUla |
10:48 |
9 |
David Gaudu Groupama - FDJ |
14:07 |
10 |
Guillaume Martin Cofidis |
14:18 |
36 |
Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal - Quick Step |
1:45:20 |
95 |
Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step |
3:23:25 |
111 |
Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step |
3:37:50 |
112 |
Yves Lampaert
Soudal - Quick Step |
3:40:37 |
132 |
Tim Declercq
Soudal - Quick Step |
4:02:01 |
138 |
Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step |
4:10:24 |
157 |
Michael Mørkøv Christensen
Soudal - Quick Step |
4:45:31 |
1 |
Jasper Philipsen Alpecin-Deceuninck |
323 pt |
2 |
Mads Pedersen Lidl - Trek |
179 pt |
3 |
Bryan Coquard Cofidis |
178 pt |
4 |
Wout van Aert Jumbo-Visma |
139 pt |
5 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
129 pt |
6 |
Jordi Meeus BORA - hansgrohe |
96 pt |
7 |
Dylan Groenewegen Team Jayco AlUla |
92 pt |
8 |
Biniam Girmay Hailu Intermarché - Circus - Wanty |
90 pt |
9 |
Michael Woods Israel - Premier Tech |
88 pt |
10 |
Victor Lafay Cofidis |
80 pt |
43 |
Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal - Quick Step |
35 pt |
51 |
Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step |
31 pt |
56 |
Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step |
28 pt |
77 |
Tim Declercq
Soudal - Quick Step |
15 pt |
1 |
Giulio Ciccone Lidl - Trek |
58 pt |
2 |
Neilson Powless EF Education-EasyPost |
58 pt |
3 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
54 pt |
4 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
48 pt |
5 |
Wout van Aert Jumbo-Visma |
47 pt |
6 |
Felix Gall AG2R Citroën Team |
32 pt |
7 |
Jai Hindley BORA - hansgrohe |
31 pt |
8 |
Tobias Halland Johannessen Uno-X Pro Cycling Team |
30 pt |
9 |
Michał Kwiatkowski INEOS Grenadiers |
30 pt |
10 |
Michael Woods Israel - Premier Tech |
28 pt |
12 |
Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal - Quick Step |
17 pt |
56 |
Tim Declercq
Soudal - Quick Step |
1 pt |
57 |
Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step |
1 pt |
58 |
Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step |
1 pt |
1 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
62:34:27 |
2 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
5:11 |
3 |
Felix Gall AG2R Citroën Team |
14:29 |
4 |
Thomas Pidcock INEOS Grenadiers |
16:43 |
5 |
Mathieu Burgaudeau TotalEnergies |
1:21:08 |
6 |
Mattias Skjelmose Jensen Lidl - Trek |
1:22:16 |
7 |
Tobias Halland Johannessen Uno-X Pro Cycling Team |
2:04:01 |
8 |
Matteo Jorgenson Movistar Team |
2:14:50 |
9 |
Maxim Van Gils Lotto Dstny |
2:22:56 |
10 |
Clément Champoussin Team Arkéa Samsic |
2:27:38 |
1 | Jumbo-Visma | 188:22:03 |
2 | INEOS Grenadiers | 3:22 |
3 | UAE Team Emirates | 7:39 |
4 | Bahrain - Victorious | 10:22 |
5 | Groupama - FDJ | 42:41 |
6 | BORA - hansgrohe | 1:15:49 |
7 | AG2R Citroën Team | 1:26:42 |
8 | Movistar Team | 2:34:12 |
9 | Team Jayco AlUla | 2:39:51 |
10 | Cofidis | 3:16:27 |