In Loudenvielle
Stage winner in Nice (2nd stage), yellow jersey for three days before a prohibited refueling (out of bounds) comes to undress him, Julian Alaphilippe had until this Saturday in the first Pyrenean stage not buried any hope for the Yellow Jersey, as he had shown by going 1 '' to Adam Yates, the British leader, at the top of Mont Aigoual.
Temperament intact, he then tried to shine in the sprint at Lavaur (7th stage), after working in the curb, before being the victim of a derailment.
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At the heart of the 8th stage, Julian Alaphilippe tried a bluff in the Col de Peyresourde, the final difficulty of a busy day delivering an obstacle course in which twists and emotions were not lacking.
To test the yellow jersey, put your strength and ambition to the test, before quickly folding your wings.
Stalled to the left of the road, he watched the Yellow Jersey group follow its ascent at the same time as his last hopes of ranking well in the general classification were fading away.
Finally 38th in the stage at 18'7 '' behind Nans Peters, he is in 26th place in the general classification at 11'27 '' from the Adam Yates yellow jersey.
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For him, as for Thibaut Pinot, the Pyrenees will not have been as lenient as last year.
A new Tour will begin for him.
In accordance with what he had been saying for days, his ambition was not to fight for the general classification but to run after stage victories.
Further on, the candidates for the final victory have two weeks to explain themselves.
If the yellow jersey remained hanging on the shoulders of Adam Yates, Primoz Roglic and the Jumbo-Visma team still did most of the work without going to seek the reward for the efforts made.
The Slovenian, in ambush, camps 3 '' from the Briton of the Mitchelton-Scott team.
Just a matter of time?
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General classification Tour de France 2020