Tour de France: Julian Alaphilippe extends overall lead, Geraint Thomas feels weak in Tourmalet

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Julian Alaphilippe.

    Geraint Thomas admitted he felt “weak” after the unforgiving slopes of the Tourmalet dealt a blow to his Tour de France hopes.

    The defending champion was the last and most surprising contender to lose contact with the front group on the highest paved pass in the Pyrenees, falling away one kilometre from the finish of this 117.5km stage 14 before Thibaut Pinot took victory and Julian Alaphilippe finished second to extend his lead in yellow.

    Everybody was waiting to see whether Alaphilippe would wilt in the high altitude. Instead, Team Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe watched from the team car as the Welshman cracked instead, losing 36 seconds on the road and more in bonuses.

    “Not the best day,” Thomas said. “I just didn’t feel quite on it from the start. I was quite weak. At the end I knew I just had to pace it. I didn’t really attempt to follow when they kicked.

    “I just thought I should ride my own pace rather than follow them and blow up on the steepest bit at the end. It’s disappointing. I just tried to limit the damage.”

    Asked if he was unwell, the Team Ineos rider said: “We will see in the next few days. From the start I just didn’t feel great. There’s still a lot to come.”

    French fans were in raptures as Pinot rode away to take his third career stage win and Alaphilippe crossed the line six seconds later in second to extend his lead over Thomas to two minutes two seconds.

    Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Alaphilippe had already defied predictions to pull out time on Thomas in Friday’s time trial, but this was an even bigger surprise.

    “I knew that a yellow jersey can change you,” Astana boss Alexandre Vinokourov said after Friday’s stage, “but I didn’t know it could make you fly.”

    Whether or not the 27-year-old, who has never finished in the top 30 of a Grand Tour before, can actually keep it up remains to be seen, but either way Thomas’ other rivals for yellow will have been encouraged by what they saw here.

    Steven Kruijsiwjk’s Jumbo-Visma team looked strong as he rode to third on the stage and now third overall, cutting his deficit to Thomas to just 12 seconds.

    Bora-Hansgrohe’s Emanuel Buchmann and Groupama-FDJ’s Pinot are now 70 seconds behind the Team Ineos man in fifth and sixth respectively.

    Recommended