'37 MINUTES TO WIN THE TOUR'

Julian Alaphilippe’s panache turned the Tour’s GC fight on its head before Ineos and Egan Bernal finally re-established control to take a seventh win in eight seasons

- Pete Cossins, Vern Pit

The 2019 Tour de France was a race where the unprecedented almost became normality. It had thrills, unpredictability and suspense, all of those aspects encapsulated in the startling verve of Julian Alaphilippe, who not only rallied French passion for its national tour, but also went close to serving up what would have been one of the most astonishing victories in the sport’s history. That he failed was, less predictably, down to Team Ineos, who filled the top two places on the general classification, 22-year-old Egan Bernal becoming the youngest winner for 110 years ahead of defending champion Geraint Thomas.

With the Tour celebrating both the centenary of the yellow jersey and the 50th anniversary of Eddy Merckx’s first victory in the race, it was entirely appropriate that the race was one of the most extraordinary for decades, comparable to epic editions in the second half of the 1980s, even though the finale proved a touch anticlimactic. As Brussels baked and the Belgians paid homage to its greatest sporting performer on the opening two days, there were already indications that the 106th Tour was likely to divert from its well-established plotlines, as Mike Theunissen outpaced the peloton’s best sprinters to become the first Dutch holder of the yellow jersey for three decades.

As he cemented his place as the world number one with victories at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Flèche Wallonne during the first half of the season, Alaphilippe said frequently that his primary goal come July would be to take the yellow jersey in the opening week. The Frenchman saw the Brussels team time trial as the most likely opportunity for this given his Deceuninck team are the reigning world champions in the discipline, but he was forced to delay his coup for 24 hours when Theunissen and the Jumbo-Visma team obliterated their rivals.