Julian Alaphilippe has already experienced the embarrassment of celebrating a win that wasn’t his. He had hoped he would never do the same thing again.
Yet on stage 15 of the 2025 Tour de France, the Frenchman evoked memories of the 2020 Liège-Bastogne-Liège when he thought he had pipped Primož Roglič in a sprint to the victory. A photofinish subsequently showed that Roglič was the actual winner.
This time around was arguably more hide-behind-the-back-of-the-sofa awkward: UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Tim Wellens had won the stage into the southern French city of Carcassonne after attacking with 44km remaining, and Victor Campenaerts of Visma-Lease a Bike clipped off the front of the chase group to finish second.
But Alaphilippe was unaware of the two finishers up the road, and when he won the 22-man finish line sprint, he took his hands off the handlebars, punched the air and roared with elation. The 33-year-old thought he had won his seventh Tour stage and secured Tudor Pro Cycling a win in their maiden Tour de France.
He had, of course, not. What was even more remarkable was that earlier in the stage Alaphilippe had crashed and hit the road. He was seen clutching his shoulder and for a moment he and his team thought that his race was over.
Speaking to a small number of journalists after visiting the mobile x-ray van following the stage, Alaphilippe confirmed that he had not suffered any fractures and reflected on his day of high emotions.
“I had a crash and dislocated my shoulder,” he said. “For a few seconds I thought it was over, but then I remembered what they did at the hospital and I managed to pop it back in myself.
“After that I kept pushing because my legs felt good. Unfortunately the radio stopped working after the crash, so like an idiot I went for the sprint trying to win. But, yeah, it’s all about mindset and mentally I’m doing OK.”
The CEO of Tudor, Raphael Meyer, said that Alaphilippe “had a lot of pain when he crashed”, making his third-placed finish even more impressive. “It was an incredible, incredible performance,” Meyer said.
Expanding on Alaphilippe being unaware that both Wellens and Campenaerts were up the road, Meyer said: “The stage was full on as you saw the whole day… and the radio didn’t work after the crash so he was not aware that there were two guys ahead of him.
“But that’s the sport, that’s the beauty of cycling. He was third after a day when we almost feared the worst.”
Loulou, as he is affectionately known, has featured in three breakaways in this year’s Tour and was fifth on stage two into Boulogne-sur-Mer. Providing his shoulder doesn’t cause him too much discomfort, he is likely to animate the race when it gets into the Alps next week. “We are super proud of the team, super proud of Julian, and we hope that tomorrow’s rest day gives him enough peace and quiet to start again on Tuesday,” Meyer said.
