There are 152km of stage 15 of the Tour de France remaining, and Julian Alaphilippe is writhing in pain on the hot tarmac, cradling his right shoulder. It is the type of body language that normally means a rider’s next destination is the back of an ambulance and out of the race for good. But this is Alaphilippe, the two-time former world champion and one of the most exuberant, bonkers bike racers on the planet. He is not like anyone else. In the heat of the moment, despite the pain, the Frenchman remembers the last time this happened, and what the doctors did about it.
“I had a crash and dislocated my shoulder. For a few seconds, I thought it was over, but then I remembered what they did at the hospital, and I managed to pop it back in myself,” he says nonchalantly with a straight face, three-and-a-half hours later at the finish of the race in Carcassonne. There is a beat of stunned silence from reporters staring at him. It is not only that Alaphilippe managed to get back on his bike after that crash in the first place, but also that he subsequently chased to the rear of the peloton, made his way to the front, got in the winning breakaway and competed for the stage victory for the following 82km. But this is Alaphilippe, and the drama does not stop there.
After animating the stage from the front, executing his trademark stylish attacks with the usual panache, the Tudor Pro Cycling Team rider found himself approaching the finish as part of a 13-rider strong group. He sprinted hard as the line came into view, beating Wout van Aert with an impassioned lunge. But Alaphilippe – despite the fact that he celebrated with gusto – had not won the bike race. What he didn’t know was that Tim Wellens and Victor Campenaerts had already finished ahead of him in first and second place. It was Van Aert who broke the bad news.
“You have to take it in a funny way, even after the line Wout said to me, ‘no, no’, there were people in the front,” Alaphilippe said after the race, a few moments after emerging from the X-ray van. “After the crash my radio didn’t work, so like an idiot, I went for the sprint trying to win. But yeah, it’s all about mindset… mentally, I’m doing okay. I’ll take it in a funny way. I’ve done it at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, now I’ve done it at the Tour.”
The former world champion’s response to his miscalculation on stage 15 is a testament to his character. Alaphilippe is a rider who…