Warlord
One of the Julian Alaphilippes’ most impressive accomplishments, for me, is in the way he, a Frenchman, has risen to the position of commander – warlord – of the iconic Belgian squad, Deceuninck-Quickstep. You could see it for the second time yesterday on the transition stage (flat stage between mountain chains) from Albertville to Valance that was ridden in a calm, restorative manner – as designed – until about 30-kilometers from the finish when the race hit a side-tail wind section.
It’s said that bicycle road racers are the last of the ‘Chevaliers’ – the knights of old galloping through the countryside in search of battle and plunder, their kings always at the head of the charging horde, leading them into battle. Alaphilippe rode like an ancient warlord yesterday, deciding battle was to be joined, going to the front and, lances down, chargingwith everything he had to force the race to well over 70-kph. It was amazing to watch the speed of that peloton behind the Frenchman, racers were scrambling for wheels, coming off the back in droves as other teams, now that Ala had opened the hostilities, joined in the fight.
A sidewind section was coming up on the road and the teams, for their own positioning of course, but many also thinking that the Yellow Jersey, Tadej Pogačar, is less-than-brilliant in crosswind racing, especially after his time loss on a similar stage last year, went full gas to try and break the field. Alaphilippe continued his ferocious aggression, echelons began to form, and lo and behold, the field split with the Yellow Jersey on the wrong side of the action. Pogačar reacted, and as few in the world could do, closed the gap to the front on his own.
This is a bad omen for the Yellow Jersey; why was he so far back in the peloton that close to the finish? And where were his teammates to close that gap for him? Brandon McNulty crashed for now the third time this Tour and the team has had a heavy workload defending Pogačar’s Yellow. Their rivals have taken note and in notoriously windy Provence they’ll be looking for every opportunity. Today’s stage, with its double climbs of Mount Ventoux, opens with 120-k of exposed roads. The wind today is only about 16-kph, not strong, but even a wind like that can hurt at 55-kph thrown down at the right moments, so look for a nervous beginning to the stage.
The race bunched once into the headwind run-in to the finish, the Rainbow Jersey relaunched at the front to spark the Deceuninck-Quickstep leadout train, completely emptying himself before handing over to Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen who went so long and so hard that it was jaw-dropping. Davide Ballerini – also a Classic’s winner – was the next car in the train, did his normal sterling work before the grand master, Michael Mørkøov delivered Mark Cavendish to the 150-meter point and a clear victory.
Mark Cavendish, who was out on the street last year, unwanted by any team, is now one win away from equaling Eddy Merckx’s 34 Tour de France stage win record in a comeback story for the ages. The sprinter has been refreshingly humble in this quest, seemingly astounded by the power, dedication and ultimate skill of his teammates. He’s going to have to make the time limit on the double ascension of the Ventoux today, not a given at all, which means that today could be one of the toughest races of the Manxman’s career.