The crowd in Boulogne-sur-Mer briefly went wild when they saw Julian Alaphilippe on the front with five hundred metres to go on stage 2 of the Tour de France on Sunday. The French national hero was suddenly back at the sharp end of the race with a chance of winning the stage.
It felt like 2019 when the Frenchman won in Epernay, produced some aggressive, champagne cycling and wore the yellow jersey until the final mountain stages.
Alaphilippe is now 33 but appears to be getting back to his best this season after a move to Tudor Pro Cycling. He was fifth overall at the Tour de Suisse and used that form to secure a place in the 26-rider front group on Sunday. He fell ill just before the Tour de France, which is one reason why he lost time on stage 1, but he bounced back on stage 2.
The French crowd cheered Alaphilippe's name because they hoped his early surge was a brave attempt to win the stage. However, Alaphilippe told Cyclingnews just beyond the finish line that he was actually trying to set up fellow Tudor team leader Marc Hirschi for the twisting, uphill sprint. The plan didn't work out but it showed that he was back to his swashbuckling best.
Hirschi was unable to follow Alaphilippe, who moved up along the barriers and cleverly onto Tadej Pogačar's wheel. Alaphilippe tried to save something for the final sprint and was on Jonas Vingegaard's wheel in sight of the line but could only finish fifth.
"Merde, ma allee ... (Shit - come on….)" Alaphilippe let out with a mix of disappointment and encouragement.
"If I compare to where I was a few days ago and even to yesterday, which was a terrible day for me, today was better. I'm happy to have been in the front," he explained.
"In the final, I asked Marc how he felt because I wanted to go from behind with him. I did it but in the end, I just did a lead out for Mathieu…"
Tudor secured a wildcard invitation to the Tour de France but impressed on both opening stages. Matteo Trentin was fifth in the stage 1 sprint and Marius Mayrhofer was ninth. Alaphilippe was fifth in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Hirschi was also in the front group and finished 14th.
"We'll have bad days but we've shown what we can do in the Tour," sports director Matteo Tosatto told Cyclingnews.
"A top five is a good result for us, it shows Julian is on form.
"It won't change his life, Julian's a former world champion, but it's good for his morale, good for the team's morale and good for the sport. The French seemed happy to see him up there."
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