His name made salivating in advance, presaging a fierce fight between the pack of punchers of the peloton. Never used by the Tour de France before, the aptly named La Fosse-aux-Loups coast kept all its promises this Saturday by offering a crazy final and crowning, of course, our national Julian Alaphilippe. “I don’t have a word, it’s a crazy thing!” », Reacted hot the world champion.
😍🇫🇷💪 SENSATIONAL JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE!
What a number for the Frenchman who wins the first stage alone and takes the yellow jersey! Exceptional! # TDF2021
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– France tv sport (@francetvsport) June 26, 2021
Announced as the big favorite of the stage with Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert, the young dad therefore assumed his status and showed that he had obviously had a good night’s sleep since the birth of little Nino ten days ago. 2.5 kilometers from the finish, in the most difficult portion of the hill, the world champion disgusted everyone by placing a shot of which he has the secret.
“Everyone expected this attack”
We then wondered if he had not attacked from too far but the Deceunink rider held on and put his opponents to death, ahead of the finish line Michael Mattheuws and Primoz Roglic. “I told the whole team this morning that we had to be well placed at the foot of the hill and go up to speed from the start to hurt everyone and especially eliminate the sprinters who know how to pass the bosses, ”said the French puncher at a press conference.
His effort was very violent, the runner himself admitting that the lactic acid had suddenly risen. “Everyone expected this attack because I had not hidden my ambitions, he said. But I’m glad I managed to manage my effort that way because I thought I was going to crash and some pursuers were going to catch up with me. It makes the victory even more beautiful ”.
An arrival tailored for him on Sunday in Mûr-de-Bretagne
Already victorious with six stage victories on the Tour, Alaph ‘did not lag behind by swapping his world champion’s tunic for the Yellow Jersey from day one. He is even doing even better than last year when he had already struck from the second stage in Nice. “My goal was to win a stage and it has already been done, it’s great,” he said. Now I’m going to enjoy being in yellow again and if ever I should lose the jersey one day, I will get my world champion jersey back, there is still worse! “.
Not satisfied, Julian Alaphilippe could even double down on Sunday with a stage finish in Mûr-de-Bretagne cut out for him. With such form, Alaph ‘has not finished making us kiff on this Tour.