Stage 13 Analysis:
What a stage! It is said that when you wear the yellow jersey, you ride like two men, and Julian Alaphilippe confirmed that indeed! Not only did Julian Alaphilippe limit his losses to rivals like Thomas and Kruijswijk, he actually gained time, winning the stage 14 seconds in front of Geraint Thomas! Julian Alaphilippe looks to be on the best form of his career, and he takes his second win already at the 2019 Tour de France. If he keeps this up, he might have a shot at keeping the yellow jersey for a fairly long time. We all know he can climb well, being the 2018 King of the Mountains at the Tour de France, but it’ll just be a matter if he absolutely drained himself today. Geraint Thomas also has a very solid time trial, and lost time to only Alaphilippe, and gaining major time on all other rivals. Bernal on the other hand did not have a good stage in the slightest, losing a lot of time, and even the white jersey. This is shocking, as we know he doesn’t favor time trials, but usually he can survive through them. Also, many people (including myself) has Egan Bernal keeping the white jersey until Paris with no doubt, and this certainly proves them wrong. Horrid day for Wout Van Aert, who went off early, and looked to be setting a pretty good time, but going into one of the final corners, he hit the barriers and was down for a while. Current updates from the team say no fractures, but just a deep cut in his leg. Hoping he can recover quickly, as he’s becoming one of the brightest stars not only in cyclocross, by road now too. With Alaphilippe winning the stage, he extends his lead over everyone, and the closest person to him now is Geraint Thomas, around a minute and a half back. This is absolutely spectacular from Julian Alaphilippe, and the French might just have a hope for this year.