Julian Alaphilippe said that the 2026 Tour de France will be his last, after finishing stage 20.
The Tudor Pro Cycling rider finished 29th on the penultimate stage of the race, and said just after it that it was "certainly" his final race. The 34-year-old has won six stages of the Tour over his career, including a memorable spell in the yellow jersey at the 2019 edition, which only ended on stage 19, when he rode for Deceuninck-Quick Step. He ended up fifth in the race. The double world champion raced eight Tours in all, and he does have one more year on his Tudor contract, but it seems like he won't be battling for yellow again.
His returns at his home Grand Tour were slim this year; he sits 125th overall after stage 20.
It was a "very, very difficult Tour de France", he told Eurosport on Saturday. "Today was a tough stage, so phew," he continued. "Honestly, my legs weren't what I'd hoped for, so I suffered a lot, but we never gave up, we fought hard. Yannis (Voisard) gave everything to protect his position in the general classification (11th, in his first Tour), and Rick (Pluimers) was also putting in some great sprints... Of course, we would have hoped to do better, winning would have been great, but we gave it our all."
Tudor's best result at this year's Tour was fifth for Pluimers on stage 17, which was won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
"I was with Warren Barguil just then. There were a lot of emotions. We have suffered a lot in this Tour," the Frenchman said at the finish, Cyclingnews reported.
"I’m not thinking about tomorrow. I’m thinking about nothing at all," he continued, answering a question about stage 21 in Paris. "All I really want is to hold my son in my arms.
"It’s maybe my last one, so I made the most of it, I gave everything, not with a lot of success but I didn’t leave anything out there. That’s how cycling is," Alaphilippe added. He had flirted with the time cut on stage 19, finishing 159th out of 160 riders the first time the race went up Alpe d'Huez, 32:51 behind the winner, Tadej Pogačar.
"I feel happy to finish this Tour, it’s certainly my last one," Alaphilippe said, definitively.
