Clear to see he had trouble at the end of Tourmalet. Next weeks stages are longer and higher. Don't think he will keep the yellow but wouldn't be sad if he did. My bet's on Kruijswijk.
Normally I would say absolutely not, but Astana and Ineos were surprisingly weak today. Movistar was just being weird. Tomorrow might be just as much of a weirdness. Anything can happen in the last week. If Alaphilippe has a bad day and is not in the picture anymore, the next six guys are within 2:20.
Regardless of what happens next week Alaphillipe has made an indelible impression on this year's Tour with his total commitment and effort,superb racing.
Nice attack by Emanuel Buchmann. His attack at the end dropped Geraint Thomas. Best wishes to him. If Emanuel continues to be so successful driving under the radar of nearly every commentator (except the germans :)), he could really finish top five or even top three.
Buchmann looked the strongest and played a very smart game today. He was lurking behind the leaders and did no pace making whatsoever. He is a sleeper for sure at 5th.
This is such a good summary of the stage’s events, it’s well put together to the point I don’t “cheat” and slide right to the results because I couldn’t watch all the racing today. Thanks Gcn
The GCN video where the QuickStep director was saying Alaphillipe might be getting tired made me believe more in him. Just playing the game, can't say how good you're feeling because as soon as you say that, things go downhill
good tempo by Movistar on the last climb (accidentally dropped theirs leader :)) and great finish by FDJ and Jumbo who destroyed Ineos. what a great stage it was! :)
@@thatfatlad1 I'm not saying anything or accusing Alaphillipe because I am just watching the tour to be entertained. I will re-look later to see if they are doping as I have all stages DVR'd (add tour of California to that as I suspect Pogecar). All I'm responding to is a difference (albeit minor assuming everything else is the same). I'd also add that that Alaphillipe is far more entertaining than the Sky/Ineos squad IMO excluding 2018 Giro. Again: This is not declaring Alaphillipe innocent or guilty of doping. Doping is not right period.
You should go watch the 87, 88 and 89 Tours on RU-vid. Phenomenal stuff-actually racing themselves instead of relying on others to set the pace until the last few hundred meters.
2011 wasn't too shaby either. Unpredictable but, in the end, deserved winner; tactical but with a lot of fireworks in form of great individual performances. And decided right at the end. Loved it!
you are right, its strange tactic, but I think there some sort of miscommunication b/w the riders and the team car .. and there tactic totally failed not just for Niro but of the whole team.
Agreed but they will still have a big day in where the jersey ends up. Hopefully they and fdj will tear it up with Ineos and let alaphillipe slide through
I think the same but not about his own weakness, I mean, Is he going to be able to respond all the attacks from the other leaders?, big challenge for him next week
Bravo Pinot! Are the French riders going to work together to keep Teams Ineos and Jumbo at bay? No doubt Julian Alaphilippe remembers that T. Voeckler and S. Yates lost their Leader's Jerseys (yellow and pink, respectively) just a few days before the end of the race. Nothing is done yet, more surprises to come in the mountains.
Its not possible to get away with doping in tour de france nowadays. Every rider is checked after each stage. The system of detecting dope is 1000% better than 20 years ago. There isnt a type of drug the doctors dont know about.
@@hiimrezgaming9885 every rider is not checked after every stage. It would be impossible to police it unfortunately and the science of Doping is waaaay ahead of the dope police
@@dmmaggi At the end of a TT Froome or Thomas whomever won would be exhausted. They would be slumped over their handlebars being held up by their team management. Alaphilippe, on the other hand, who is hardly a TT specialist, somehow wins by 20 secs.. On crossing the line he then does a fancy back wheel slide, jumps off his bike and literally starts prancing around. Its more than suspicious imho
You guys didn't watch the whole thing I guess right after that he had to sit on the floor because he was exhausted. It was just the adrenaline of the win.
@@hjddkgf125 I watched it back and you are absolutely correct. It very much looks like adrenaline was at play, which would explain his initial energy burst on crossing the line
I have a feeling Alaphilippe is going ride this a la Richard Carapaz - he was let go early because he wasn’t seen as a contender, but surprising everyone by not slipping back.
Is it too early to predict, that the winner of this year's TdF will be one of today's TOP 6 because they proved to be the currently best climbers in the peloton ? PINOT - ALAPHILIPPE - KRUISWIJK - BUCHMANN - BERNAL - LANDA ! Alaphilippe's and Landa's disadvantage is that both have already accomplished plenty of efforts in the 2019 season. So my pick would be one of the other four riders. Thomas and Uran are still struggling but tomorrow can already doom Thomas' hopes making Bernal the new leader of Team Ineos. I only know one man who could turn signs of weakness like not being able to beat Alaphilippe in ITT and loosing contact in the final slopes of the summit into dominance a few days later. His name is Lance Armstrong and I knew why back then.
Based on what we have seen halfway through the Tour so far, I’m calling it now - Quintana, Aru, Porte, Martin, Yates, Bardet, y’all can pack your bags... sorry to say but it’s over for you lot
Yes, Yates hasn’t really fired a shot, has he? He and his brother are both still fantastic talents but perhaps overexposed before they have fully matured physically and especially tactically. And, in Adam’s case, verbally - that guy is seriously hard to catch in his interviews on Mitchelton Scott’s BackStage Pass.
Froome targeted the tour perfectly. Such a shame, on the back of three grand tour wins on the trot, he kept his powder perfectly dry for July. Not to be; Thomas is losing energy, it's time for the lesser names to shine, which is nice in a way.
Gez seems to be struggling this year, baring a crash or some sort of accident I think allaphilips got it bagged. He just needs to make sure he can recover
As a fan of Movistar, I am very disappointed with Quintana. It's ok that he has a bad day but he should informed his teammates. Some Quintana's fans kept criticizing Movistar for not supporting him and not having him as the sole leader. But if he's in such a bad form, why does he deserve being the sole leader? He doesn't has the ability of leading and communicating.
If they ride all mountains to pace, maybe Alaphillipe will be able to hang on. They need to attack. Bring back old school cycling...attacking early. Nowadays is all about pacing and attack on the last km. Boring
@@JoeBleasdaleReal I understand. But this year Ineos aren't half strong as in other year's. Fdx and Jumbo were the stronger teams uphill... Riders just pass the time defending their position, instead of trying to attack the ones ranked above. Think small get small
"old school cycling".... yeay for sure... the old school days when riders could just attack every day and never had any backlash from that. You'd almost think they used some kind of product to enhance their performances. O wait.... perhaps they did. Honestly, if these riders could just attack and put minutes into their opponents, they probably would. However, the differences between the top riders (and even subtop riders, like Gaudu and De Plus) seems to be so small that it's almost impossible to just ride away from your opponents and to then keep on going. I kind of like seeing cyclists who seem to be more human and less like some unhumanlike machines. You could call that boring... but then I guess I don't really mind "boring" so much.
@@topsander if you think they ride clean now, I'm sorry but I have to call you stupid. They are all on the special sauce!! Before was just less technology and less interest to catch them. Nowadays only the small fishes are caught so they can claim they're cleaning the sport. Lool
@@MrDfmcos Your statement is typically the kind of statement which is completely impossible to falsify... so I'm not even going to waste time trying to do that...
Tomorrow is significantly longer, if not quite so acutely cruel as this finish gradient. The effort shown in 117 k's leads us to expect that energy remains in Pinot, Alaphilippe, and all the rest who were not dropped as heavily as Nairo. Julian, one would expect, will experience some energy letdown. maybe it will show tomorrow. Even though I once raced, I had quit watching the heavy dopers of the early 2000s the most egregious of which NBC is trying to resurrect in the USA as icon. Does that network really believe that all have forgotten the abuse? If one contracts or has asthma, it is a pity, but since the antiasthmatics are artificial performance enhancers, they should be outlawed. If one's leg is cut off, one is likely not competitive in sport, and if one has asthma, it is not substantially different. No bouncy carbon legs, no salbutamol,etc. are appropriate. I really hope that what we are seeing is more real. Each have favorites, but the rise of Alaphilippe was interesting over these past few years. And we DO need all the tour highlights available. I, for one, am not about to spring for some large network's control of TdF. I don't watch boring people elbowing one another in the quest for playing with their balls & so will never support such "sports" networks. The differing highlights presented from different viewpoints are more fun than just having to watch one nationality serving up their domestique as the most important racer.
1:27 lol fail on the part of TdF organizers planning the route: what a terrible choice: look at all that road furniture!!! Not safe, not smart, Tour Organizers, really not a wise decision on your part. Shame.... Lucky no crashes there
