Julian Alaphilippe has a gift. That of changing the weather, in every sense of the word. Here he is victorious, in yellow, and radiant under the sun of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), this Sunday, August 30 after the second stage contested around the city and on its heights. A breath of fresh air is blowing over the hTour de France. An angry grin reigns over the ordeal. Faces light up. Smiles are emerging. A kid from our region took the reins of the biggest popular festival in France and maybe more. We are back a year ago, a year and two months exactly, in the heat of July. July 8, 2019 in Epernay, during the third stage of the Grande Boucle. Same causes, same effects: a success and a yellow tunic that would stretch for fourteen days. An enchanted fortnight.
We are not in 2019, and we are not in July but August 30. And the day before, it was raining, there were more falls, and the Deceuninck - Quick Step runner was railing against a mechanical incident. Times have changed thanks to the little yellow man. We could almost forget the masks that block faces and hide emotions. They are there, however. And they overflow when a hand reaches for the sky.
His first gesture of winner in Nice, Julian Alaphilippe addresses his father, who disappeared at the end of June. His first tears too. “I promised myself to win for him, he slips. I wanted to dedicate this first victory to him. We have all had a difficult year. "
And yet, before this Grand Départ in Nice, nothing was obvious. More than thirteen months without any bouquet in the arms, since his victorious time trial on July 19 in Pau. Seeming less leggy than a year earlier, the serial puncher had broken his nose for a hair on Milan - San Remo, beaten by the Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), then at the French Championships, preceded by Arnaud Starts (Groupama-FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels -Vital Concept). Less sharp? Less aerial? Less imperial? Without a doubt. But all these minuses masked a plus.
"I feel better and better"
Here he is more mature, at 28 years old. And still so smart. “I'm not aiming for the yellow jersey,” Alaphilippe warned. “Even with him, I'm still not here to win the general classification, he always asserts after having endorsed it. I wanted to win a stage (Editor's note: his 5th on the Tour) . It's done and anything that can happen from now on is just a bonus. Of course, this legendary and prestigious jersey is respected, and we will do everything, with the team, to defend it as best and as long as possible. I know now I'm going to have fun. "
Can he redo the coup of 2019? He casually swallowed two passes quietly with the best, including "the Turini", a sacred piece. And in the Côte des Quatre Chemins, 12 kilometers from the finish, his thrust left them there. Only the young Swiss Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) and the Briton Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) managed to hook his wheel. But the extra soul was on his side. “This stage suited me well,” he explains. I had nothing to lose and physically I am feeling better and better. I am reassured and even relieved. "
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VIDEO. Tour de France: Alaphilippe in tears after his victory in Nice
The day before, it was raining, the roads were slippery, sad and depopulated around Nice. The fear of the coronavirus was circulating faster than the peloton. The grayness had descended on the Tour as it barely started. All that was in another world, before a tricolor imp, who is decidedly not afraid of anyone, decides to return the sun, and all its rays with it, to a planet balanced on two wheels.