Tour de France, Alaphilippe keeps the yellow jersey (photo Ansa)
ROME – Julian Alaphilippe falls to his feet in the alpine summit and holds his flamboyant yellow jersey without any particular damage, eventually giving up only another 5 ″ to rivals. Because, if it is true that Geraint Thomas arrived with him on the finish line, therefore he remains 1'35 "away in the general classification, the Colombian Egan Bernal – he too of Ineos, like the outgoing Welsh champion – made the devil four on the climb which led to the Galibier, at over 2,600 meters of altitude, bypassing its captain in the standings and inflicting on the group of the best a gap of 32 ". This morning, before the start, Bernal was at 2'02 "from Alaphilippe, after the finish line in Valloire he found himself at 1'30".
So, waiting for two more stops between tomorrow and Saturday – the 19 / a from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in Tignes and the 20 / a from Albertville to Val Thorens with uphill arrivals – can still hope for a substantial revolution of the general classification.
Today was the day of the Colombians, not of Thibaut Pinot, who perhaps begins to blame for a run-up in the last fractions: Bernal shortened his ranking by 5 ", climbing to the second step of a virtual podium, while Nairo Quintana partially redeemed his Tour, smoothing out the Galibier and presenting himself with arms raised under the banner of the arrival in Valloire, a few kilometers from the border with Italy.
There were three mountains to climb on the pedals, and especially the heat, in this 18 / a stage: the Col du Vars, 9.3 km long and with an average gradient of 7.5%; the Izoard, 14.1 km long, at 7%; finally the Galibier, which presented a climb of 23 km to 5.1%.
Just in the last ascent, Alaphilippe planted himself, detaching himself from his rivals: the first to leave the group of the best – who followed more or less 5 ′ a group of fugitives of which Damiano Caruso was a part (first on the Izoard, a beautiful satisfaction) – it was Bernal, after a few km it fell to Thomas.
Alaphilippe was trapped with the various Pinot and Kruijswijk, who spaced him meter by meter. Not a collapse, that of the yellow jersey, only a small crisis, as confirmed by the great comeback in the descent after the Gpm of the Galibier, faced at all until the reunion with the other big (source Ansa).
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Source: Blitz Quotidiano