Julian Alaphilippe’s attack on the Côte de Mutigny opens up the Tour, thrills home crowds and hints at what is to come as Egan Bernal is tempted to follow the Frenchman’s move but sticks to team tactics, while Geraint Thomas lets slip a handful of seconds to his Colombian teammate in the fulminating finale through the champagne vineyards.
Thibaut Pinot and the irrepressible Alaphilippe cause panic in the peloton with a late and spontaneous attack that takes them clear of their chasers through the Massif Central as Thomas suffers his second crash of the Tour — and his third in a month —on the descent of the Côte de la Jailliere. Bernal avoids the chaos as his teammate battles to catch up.
Stage 13 Pau – Pau individual time trial
In heatwave conditions, Alaphilippe stuns the peloton with the best time trial performance of his career. Against all expectations, he increases his overall lead on defending champion Thomas and lays down a marker as a genuine threat for overall victory. Bernal, meanwhile, slumps to fifth overall, having lost over a minute and a half to the flying Frenchman.
Pinot, vengeful after losing time in crosswinds on the stage to Albi, catches fire and goes on the rampage, first with a stage win on the Col du Tourmalet in front of huge and partisan crowds and then, 24 hours later, with a fierce attack to Prat d’Albis that distances both Thomas and Bernal. For the first time in a very long time, the home nation genuinely believes it can win in Paris.
Stage 19 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Tignes
With an exhausted Alaphillippe clinging on to yellow and Pinot abandoning the Tour in tears, all eyes turn to Bernal to fulfill the promise of his talent. The Colombian doesn’t disappoint, riding solo through the thin air to the 2,770 metre summit of the Col de l’Iseran and definitively claiming the yellow jersey, before chaos engulfs the stage finale as hail, floods and landslides sweep across the Alps.
