INTERVIEW
He will have kept the French in suspense for two weeks. Julian Alpahilippe kept the yellow jersey for 14 days, before finishing at the fifth lap of the Tour de France, won Sunday by Colombian Egan Bernal. "He finished in fifth place, we could have found great that he was on the podium, I think he would have deserved," said Monday, at the microphone of Pierre de Vilno on Europe 1, Christian Prudhomme, the boss of the Great Loop, who salutes a champion "an incredible relaxation".
"Julian Alaphilippe is the world's number one - a Frenchman is world leader in cycling! - but we know that he is not a great climber.Beyond a certain altitude, with the accumulation of passes, he does not hold, at least not today, "says the former sports journalist, who is however impressed by the feat of the 27-year-old cyclist. "He held the yellow jersey much longer than expected."
For him, the "tears of Julian Alaphilippe retaining the yellow jersey in Valloire, when he no longer believed," will remain among the most striking images of this tour in 2019.
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Already first in the heart of the French
If the French still has room for improvement to win the most famous cycling race in the world, he has however won wide public votes in this 106th edition. "He has managed to conquer hearts, by his audacity, by his ardor, by his natural side," says Christian Prudhomme. But also by his dedication: "I saw him after the finishes of stages stay late, I said to myself: 'Go back to the hotel, protect yourself' and no, he stayed because someone asked him", reports the director of the Tour de France.
"We saw on social networks this image where he gives a little kid who flickers his yellow jersey so that it is less cold," he notes again. "It's something exceptional that says what the guy is: someone very nice, very simple, very natural, who stayed himself during the three weeks of the Tour de France", concludes Christian Prud'homme.