Julian Alaphilippe 'pushed to the limit' to stay with Tour de France contenders on Tourmalet

Alaphilippe says he was buoyed to keep going on the Tourmalet as big name GC riders fell away

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) went "to the limit" to stay with the front group on the Tour de France's Col du Tourmalet summit finish on stage 14 and to maintain, and even add, to his yellow jersey lead.

The Frenchman now leads the race with 2-02 minutes over Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and 2-14 minutes on Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) – both established classification riders in Grand Tours.

Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Gregor Brown

Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.