Objective achieved: Julian Alaphilippe raised his arms on the Dauphiné from the second stage, Monday at La Chaise-Dieu where, after months of spleen, he took the date for the Tour de France. Less than a month before the start of the Grande Boucle (July 1-23), the former double world champion was full of confidence after appearing at the last moment to jump on the line the Olympic champion Richard Carapaz and the ‘Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion. Fourth in the stage, the Frenchman Christophe Laporte, who had won the day before, keeps the yellow jersey, at the same time as Julian Alaphilippe but ahead of him in the addition of places.
“The last few months have been long but I have been able to remain patient and work hard”
“The last few months have been long but I have been able to remain patient and work hard. Afterwards you have to win. It’s done and it feels good”, commented the 30-year-old Auvergnat who won his second victory of the season, his third overall in the Dauphiné. These last times have been difficult for the runner of Soudal Quick-Step who has multiplied falls and illnesses, under the increasingly critical gaze of his boss, Patrick Lefevere.
“Of course I had doubts. But I knew how to question myself and I never stopped believing in it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have won today. It shows that I have the hard-headed”, added “Alaf”, who was betting on this Dauphiné to start a virtuous circle with a view to the Tour de France where he should be the leader of his team. Asked if his victory announced a radiant month of July, he however temporized, as if vaccinated by the events of the last two seasons: “I hope. We can’t predict anything. I’ve gotten used to adapting these last month.”
“Completely Liberated”
“I’m not getting fired up, you have to stay calm and that’s also the meaning of my gesture on the line: calm, no stress. I didn’t win the Tour but a good stage in the Dauphiné”, insisted the Frenchman who had to skip the Grande Boucle last year, insufficiently recovered from his crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. At Dauphiné, he can now approach the weekend “completely freed”, while remaining “very motivated”. And this thirst for victory, she saw herself on Monday in a final too difficult for most sprinters, wrung out on the last climb leading to the finish at the foot of the abbey of La Chaise-Dieu, chief of work of 14th century Gothic architecture.
“We left with the aim of sprinting with Ethan Vernon”
“We left with the aim of doing a sprint with (his teammate) Ethan Vernon, he said. And if it was too hard for him, we had Florian (Sénéchal), or even Andrea Bagioli, or me.” But “in the end, Ethan + farted +, Florian told me that he was at full speed two terminals from the finish and Andrea, I did not see him. I had good legs, I saw everyone a bit on edge and I made my effort at the right time,” he added. He notably overtook Christophe Laporte, still in front after having been brought as if in an armchair by his leader, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, stunning with dedication for the one who is usually his servant and will still be at the Tour de France.
But the day for the Jumbo-Visma team was tarnished by the abandonment after a fall of Steven Kruijswijk, who was supposed to help Vingegaard defend his crown on the Grande Boucle. “From what I understand it’s quite important what he has. His chances of participating in the Tour are soaring,” lamented Laporte. It’s a blow for Vingegaard who, again in the morning, had insisted on the caution to be had on this Dauphiné in view of the big meeting in July, raised to the rank of “absolute priority”.