REACTION
The first Alpine stage of the Tour de France, with its three passes above 2,000m, was to be a new test for Julian Alaphilippe. The rider from the Deceuninck-Quick Step team passed it with the honors, only conceding 32 seconds on one of his rivals, Egan Bernal. "I was expecting everything, in the worst of scenarios, too, when we looked at the profile of the stages, it was a day of madness, I gave everything and I'm still in yellow, I can be satisfied," said the No. 1 worldwide. "I knew I was going to be attacked and that's what happened." I felt not too bad until (Egan) Bernal and then (Geraint) Thomas attacked. . "
"I was at the limit"
Despite an acceleration of the tempo by the Movistar team in the first kilometers of the ascent of the Izoard, the main favorites remained together until a terrible acceleration of Egan Bernal (Ineos) to a little more than 3 kilometers of the summit of Galibier. He was followed a few minutes later by Geraint Thomas, his teammate, who failed to make the difference, Julian Alaphilippe returning on him in the descent to Valloire. "I made a descent sick, I absolutely wanted to save my jersey," said Alaphilippe. "I did not really remember all the turns, I was in the limit, I think it was impossible to go faster, I lost some time on Bernal, but it could have been a lot worse, when we see how the stage went: it was all the time. " In the overall standings, Alaphilippe was only a minute and a half ahead of Bernal, who moved from 5th to 2nd overall, just ahead of Thomas (3rd at 1'35 ").
"The balance is average," admits Pinot
In contrast, Thibaut Pinot lost his rank, going from 4th to 5th place, always 1'50 "late." The result is average, I was not in a big day ", entrusted the leader of the Groupama-FDJ. "These days, it is necessary to pass them. We had to follow the best, but we did not manage to follow Bernal who is very strong. Thomas also made a big attack, we came back (on him) to the top anyway. Now, there are two finishes at the top, maybe a little bit more, I hope I have better feelings. Movistar was very strong, we suspected. Between Ineos and Movistar, there is a lot of movement. "