Today in the parade on the Champs Elysées Egan Bernal he will be the great protagonist first Colombian to win the Tour, third youngest in the history of the winners of the Grande Boucle. There will be time and space to celebrate the new talent of world cycling that just 22 years accomplished has already won this season the Paris-Nice and the Tour of Switzerland and that he raced the Tour only because a crash in preparation for the Giro prevented him from fighting for the pink jersey.
We will certainly talk about Bernal for a long time but yesterday, the last Alpine stage reduced due to the risk of landslides to just 59 km after the elimination of the Cormet de Roselend, on the interminable climb towards the finish line at 2365 meters Val Thorens the cover takes it Vincenzo Nibali with a solitary attack for over 15 km which led him to put his seal of champion in a Tour that was immediately complicated for him, raced almost reluctantly until he was subjected to excessive criticism to which he responded yesterday on his own. It is true that, like Simon Yates in his two successes, the Shark enjoyed a freedom he would not have had if he had been fighting for the podium, but it was beautiful and moving to see him return to victory by fending off the onslaught of his pursuers. basically all the top ten of the Tour with the exception of Julian Alaphilippe who was suffering further back.
At the finish line Nibali, his arms raised in the sky, had plenty of time to enjoy himself his sixth success in the Grande Boucle four years after the last one, still in the Alps, in La Toussuire-Les Sybelles. Behind him at 10 ”he placed Alejandro Valverde which in turn preceded Landa. Bernal it arrived immediately after at 17” together with Thomas: the hug that the Welshman, back second in the standings, gave to his younger companion in the yellow jersey as they crossed the finish line paired up was nice. A handover between last year's Tour winner and this year's, a gesture that put end to many controversies on the tensions for the hierarchies in the Ineos house, which extends the series of successes inherited from Team Sky even if Bernal's triumph interrupts the British dominance that had lasted since 2012 with the exception of the 2014 Tour won by Nibali. Ecuador won the Giro with Carapaz, Colombia with Bernal the Tour: it had never happened that South American cycling conquered the pink jersey and the yellow jersey.
The third to get on the podium together with the two big names from Ineos will be the Dutchman Steven Krujiswjick. To pay dearly for the last ascent was the rider who inflamed France throughout the Tour, Julian Alaphilippe, which arriving at the top of Val Thorens 26th at 3'17” from Nibali slipped from second to fifth place also preceded by the German Emanuel Buchmann. But Alaph, if he lost the podium, certainly won the hearts and affection of the French who cheered and applauded him yesterday as in the beautiful days in the yellow jersey. With Pinot – as fragile and unfortunate as he was strong in the Pyrenees – Alaphilippe forms an asset of great value not only in transalpine cycling, which in this Tour has been the protagonist as it hasn't happened for years but which in the end collects little and must be consoled with the white jersey with red polka dots of Romain Bardet, who despite disappointing, won the points classification of the climbers.
