It was a rollercoaster day for Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) on stage 15 of the Tour de France, going from dislocating his shoulder and thinking his race was over, to popping his shoulder back in the socket, to thinking he'd won the stage, and then finally finding out he had actually been sprinting for third.
Alaphilippe's wild afternoon started when he was involved in a crash early in the stage, which resulted in him dislocating his shoulder. Instead of waiting for medical assistance, he popped it back into the socket himself.
"I immediately felt that it was going to be complicated for a few seconds, because I've already done both shoulders, so I know the pain," he explained on French TV after the stage.
"But I remembered what they did at the hospital, and I managed to pop it back in. I just know that it made a big 'click' and that it was right again."
Despite the DIY medical care, Alaphilippe was able to remount his bike after thinking his race could be over, and checks after the stage showed no serious damage.
"I went for X-rays, there's no tearing, no complications," he said. "It's really just painful. For 30 seconds after the fall, I thought it was over for me."
Whilst most riders might try and have a quieter day after dislocating their shoulder, that wasn't Alaphilippe's style on stage 15. Instead, he helped teammate Michael Storer to get into the breakaway, then ended up in a chasing move himself, eventually coming to the line in the group sprinting for third.
However, the problem was that Alaphilippe didn't know they were only battling for third behind winner Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and escapee Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike).
"Unfortunately, my radio was no longer working after the crash, so I tried to do the best sprint possible, thinking about the stage victory," he explained.
He did a fantastic sprint, beating the on-paper faster rider Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) to the line, in what would have been a dramatic comeback after his earlier crash – but as he would soon find out, it wasn't.
"I raised my arms, like an idiot, but there were guys in front. So there you go, it could have ended better, but I could also have gone home [because of the crash. So it's OK. I can't blame myself, because the radio wasn't working. So there you go, that's how it is."
It wasn't until he was already celebrating that the rider he beat to the line broke the bad news.
"I didn't know there were guys in front," he said. "I don't even know who won. It was Wout van Aert who told me, 'There were guys in front'. I said 'Thanks a lot'."
Alaphilippe went through all the emotions possible on Sunday, and came out of the day with no stage win and his arm in a sling, but vowed not to give up as he chases his first Tour stage win since 2021, especially with a day to recover on Monday.
"Of course, I'm going to go again," he said. "I'm going to take advantage of the rest day tomorrow, and try not to raise my arms too much to hang up clothes to dry. I'm going to stay calm."
The Tour de France is the biggest race in cycling, and a Cyclingnews subscription offers you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. Get all the breaking news and analysis from our team on the ground in France, plus the latest pro tech, live race reports, and a daily subscriber-only newsletter with exclusive insight into the action. Find out more.
