Julian Alaphilippe on Thursday kept the Tour de France lead as Colombians dominated the Alpine ascents, with Nairo Quintana storming to the stage victory and Egan Bernal climbing from fifth to second overall.
Bernal, at 22 the youngest man in the race, sprung his attack 3km from the summit of the Col du Galibier, running the gauntlet of fans packed onto the final stages of the relentless 23km climb, which ended at an altitude of more than 2.6km.
Bernal is perfectly primed in second place at 1 minute, 30 seconds behind Alaphilippe, who clung once more to his lead, with Welshman Geraint Thomas, the defending champion, a further five seconds back in third, Steven Kruijswijk in fourth at 1 minute, 47 seconds and Thibaut Pinot fifth at 1 minute, 50 seconds.
For 17 stages, Bernal had been kept largely under wraps by Ineos, but as the race approached the sort of altitude where he grew up, he finally unfurled his wings in the rarefied oxygen, scampering off to put 31 seconds into his four closest rivals. Bernal is causing a stir in Colombia.
“I’m here, second, and maybe I can win the Tour, but it’s going to be really very hard to achieve that, for now I’m second,” a serene looking Bernal said. “There are five other guys still in there.”
For 29-year-old Quintana, the stage win saved his Tour de France. The Movistar captain blew his lines in the Pyrenees, but gained almost six minutes on the main contenders to finish the first full day in the Alps seventh overall.
Alaphilippe seems unconquerable. After he was dropped on the climb, the Frenchman galvanized himself, limiting his losses before the crest, and then catching all his rivals, except Bernal, with a virtuoso descent, frequently adopting his “supertuck” aerodynamic downhill crouch to stunning effect.
Alaphilippe looked like a man on fire after the race.
“They all wanted to attack me and that’s what they did,” he said laughing.
“Look, I’m still in yellow,” he said pointing to the overall leader’s jersey he was to don for a 14th time yesterday.
It was also a day of redemption of sorts for French climber Romain Bardet, who had dropped to more than 25 minutes off the overall pace.
After embarking from Embrun in searing heat that reached 40°C, he, Quintana and Adam Yates, who have all performed poorer than expected, joined a mass breakaway.
Even though he was dropped by Quintana in the battle for the stage win, Bardet claimed the polka dot “king of the mountains” jersey, as well as his smile, after spending two weeks looking like a broken man. He was also runner-up on the day.
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