Julian Alaphilippe wins brutal Stage 10 of the Tour de France with brilliant solo attack

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe broke free from a long breakaway to win the first mountain stage of the 2018 Tour de France, and give his country yet another reason to celebrate.

Julian Alaphilippe won the first mountain stage of the 2018 Tour de France after going clear of any competition up the slope to Col de Romme and descending all alone into Le Grand-Bornand. It was the first stage victory for France of the Tour, and the first ever stage victory for one of cycling’s best young riders.

Stage 10 didn’t effect the yellow jersey standings much, but it certainly produced battered legs. More importantly, it continued what has been a joyous week for France, a country still riding high off a World Cup victory over Croatia just two days ago. Alaphilippe will pull on the polka dot jersey as the Tour’s new King of the Mountains.

That Alaphilippe was able to win on this stage is particularly impressive.

The second week of the Tour de France inflicts a particular hell on riders’ bodies, and coming off a rest day, Tour organizers scheduled a brutal mountain stage featuring a new climb — six kilometers at 11.2 percent gradient up to the Plateau des Glières.

That climb was the first sign that this was Alaphilippe’s day. The early break was made up of 21 riders, highlighted by yellow jersey-bearer Greg Van Avermaet, Bahrain-Merida’s Ion Izaguirre, Dimension Data’s Serge Pauwels, and Direct Energie’s Lilian Calmejane and Rein Taaramäe, along with Alaphilippe. The Frenchman summited Plateau des Glières first, and instead of taking a breather on relatively flat land, he zoomed away from his breakaway mates on gravel road.

The break came back together on the 20 kilometers of flat land before the final two climbs up to Col de Romme and Col de la Colombière. With the general classification contenders content to sit at the peloton’s pace — more than six minutes back of the break at the bottom of the first climb — it became more and more clear that the break would win.

Taaramäe committed the first move, jumping out to a 25-second lead over Van Avermaet and company. Alaphilippe jumped out of the bunch, and was able to bridge Taaramäe with 30 kilometers to the finish and pull past, easily taking 15 King of the Mountains points at the summit of Col de Romme.

Taaramäe was broken. On the next descent, Alaphilippe tired to coax the Estonian into partnering with him to pace their way to the finish, but received no cooperation. So Alaphilippe simply left him, taking on Colombière by himself, and gaining more than a minute on Taaramäe and nearly two minutes on a chase of Izaguirre and Pauwels, with a dogged Van Avermaet farther back.

Once Alaphilippe began the long descent into Le Grand-Bornand, the stage was essentially over. The Frenchman had nothing left to do except give his legs as much rest as he could, and celebrate while surrounded by a cheering crowd.

The yellow jersey contenders, meanwhile, finished in a bunch.

We didn’t learn much about who will win the Tour de France on Tuesday, but we learned a lot about who won’t. Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema, Katusha Alpecin’s Ilnur Zakarin, and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Rafal Majka may be on life support after finishing 51 seconds back of a bunch that featured Chris Froome, Romain Bardet, and Nairo Quintana, among others.

Education First-Drapac’s Rigoberto Uran, who finished second at the 2017 Tour, can effectively wave good bye to his general classification hopes, finishing more than two and a half minutes back of the Froome group.

With two more hard Alps stages forthcoming, expect the list of contenders to be winnowed down even further very soon.

One more thing.

Stage 10 results

1. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 4h 25’ 27”

2. Ion Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - 1’ 34”

3. Rein Taaramäe (Direct Energie) - 1’ 40”

4. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) - 1’ 44”

5. Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) - 1’ 44”

6. Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) - 2’ 24”

7. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) - 3’ 23”

8. Primož Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) - 3’ 23”

9. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) - 3’23”

10. Geraint Thomas (Sky) - 3’ 23”

General classification after Stage 10

1. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) - 40h 34’ 28”

2. Geraint Thomas (Sky) - + 2’ 22”

3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) - + 3’ 10”

4. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) - + 3’ 12”

5. Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) - + 3’ 20”

6. Chris Froome (Sky) - + 3’ 21”

7. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - + 3’ 21”

8. Mikel Landa (Movistar) - + 3’ 21”

9. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) - + 3’ 27”

10. Primož Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) - + 3’ 36”