The bad luck of Julian Alaphilippe this season is impressive and to the point that the curse caused by the rainbow jersey among the cyclists who wear it after becoming world champion is once again being talked about. It was a perverse phenomenon that seemed to have disappeared after the three titles won by Peter Sagan and the triumph of Alejandro Valverde in 2018.
Alaphilippe went to the ground in a quiet stage, in which he, like the rest of the figures, only planned to regain strength, ride calmly and wait for the new contact with the mountain, scheduled for this Thursday in Peñas Blancas, the peak that rises above the Estepona skieson the Costa del Sol.
There were 63 kilometers left for the runners to reach the Cabo de Gata beach closest to Almería, among bathers who were approaching the finish line while leaving their towels on the sand.
Alaphilippe He arrived in Almería by ambulance after taking a brutal blow to the right side. The Vuelta doctors had to immobilize his arm. He had to retire and Remco Evenepoel, leader of the Vuelta and of his team, the Quick Step, was left without his best protector and the most important cyclist when it came to imposing order and rhythm on the mountain, where the runner The Belgian will now have to defend himself, rather than attack, against the expected offensive from his closest rivals, especially Primoz Roglic, who has not given up his fourth consecutive victory in the Vuelta.
Bad luck
And it’s that streak of falls Alpha hippie this season is very alarming. She already went to the ground in the ‘sterrato’ of the White roads, when he did a complete somersault, in a race with dirt sections and called ‘El Infierno del Sur’ that he hoped to win for the second time. It happened in the month of March with the victory of Tadej Pogacar and second place in Alexander Valverde, who this Wednesday ran for the last time with a bib on his back on Murcian roads. The stage began in Alhama de Murcia, in what was a popular outcry towards the star of the earth.
But is that Alaphilippe had a serious accident in the Liège-Bastogne-Liègeto the point that Romain Bardeta compatriot but at the same time a rival, gave up running as he decided to help him until he was evacuated by an ambulance from the event that Evenepoel took.
That fall forced him to give up his big event of the year, a France that was left without its main figure in the Tour, the test that he was about to win Alaphilippein 2019, his best cycling year.
