The beginning of the end?
Halfway up the final climb of the Prat d’Albi Alaphilippe showed weakness for the first time in this Tour. Unable to follow an attack from Thibaut Pinot, he was dropped to the second group of GC contenders. And then he dropped out of that one as well. The Frenchman still holds a 1:35 lead over Geraint Thomas. We’ll see what the rest day will do for Alaphilippe’s form.
Meanwhile, Pinot proved he is the best climber in this year’s Tour and moved to fourth place in the GC. Can he be the man France wishes for?
Team Ineos believe to be in a perfect position with two men in the top 5. “The good thing is our guys are stable,” said Team Ineos sports director Nicolas Portal. “G lost a little bit of time yesterday and was back in the game today. We took time on Julian and only Pinot stepped up.”
“I felt good at the top and am feeling kind of like my old self again. I’m looking forward to the Alps now, kind of wish we could just keep going and not have this rest day,” Thomas said back on his team bus in Foix.
He sounds pretty confident, doesn’t he? Who do you favour for the GC?
General classification after stage 15
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) – 61:00:22
2. Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) + 1:35
3. Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) + 1:47
4. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) + 1:50
5. Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) + 2:02
6. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 2:14
7. Mikel Landa (Movistar) + 4:54
8. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 5:00
9. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) + 5:27
10. Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First) + 6:30
