Legs too hard for days to have refused to save himself, Julian Alaphilippe nevertheless offered himself a mini fireworks display, the day after July 14: a last escape as a final last stand in the Tourmalet, then that his chances of success were almost nil.
On arrival in Luz-Ardiden, rallied with his friend Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), the world champion was greeted by Emmanuel Macron who insisted on whisking a few words in his ear. To thank him for having started the Tour so well.
This Tour is almost over for you, why have you tried a doomed breakaway?
JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE. In the last climb, I preferred to get up, because I was afraid to give everything. But I have no regrets even if I would have preferred to take a little further ahead. The general scenario blocked everything, but that’s okay. I’m glad I gave it my all once again.
What did President Macron tell you on arrival?
He was behind us in the Tourmalet and I think he appreciated what he saw and to see that we were giving it all. In fact, I believe President Macron had a better day than me (smiles) !
What can you outline as a first assessment?
It’s necessarily a successful Tour when you win a stage and wear the yellow jersey. There are also five stage wins for the team and the green jersey for Mark Cavendish. So it is more than successful in fact. But I must admit that I have accumulated a lot of fatigue. I had a hard time on this Tour.
That is to say ?
There are a lot of nights when I didn’t sleep very well. Almost all the time, in fact. And maybe that’s why I suffered so much. I lost a few percentages of strength in sleep. Which did not prevent me from giving everything and sometimes having fun. But I can’t wait for it to end. The priority now is to work for Mark. It would be great if he broke the Merckx record and that will be our goal.
