If Pau is the balcony on the Pyrenees, Gap is on the Alps: two cities that have entered the history of the Tour. Gap has often been the place of arrival of decisive stages and also of beautiful Italian victories such as yesterday's Matteo Trentin. Wednesday Gap did not affect the standings which remained unchanged with the big group arriving almost 20 minutes behind the leaders.
Before the final catwalk in Paris only the three days of fire in the Alps who will decide who will win the most open and least armored Tour of recent years. Already tonight, Thursday, at the end of a stage that recalls legendary feats with three "hors catégorie" hills - Vars, Izoard and Galibier - probative indications are expected in the podium area and surroundings. Without a boss like Froome has been for years, it was said since the eve in Brussels that it would be a Grande Boucle full of surprises.
Thomas is a very good runner but Froome is not worth it. Bernal, his partner at Ineos, is one of the strongest climbers around but has just blossomed into great cycling. Super favorites at the start from Brussels, today they find themselves facing the Alps that are no longer such after a Tour in which Thomas proved to be inferior to that of last year, with the empty hit in the final of the Tourmalet which left doubts about his state of form. As for Bernal, penalized by the subdued time trial in Pau, he defended himself well in the mountains but never took an initiative, perhaps held back by team orders given the lack of brilliance of Thomas who is in any case second at 1'35" from the yellow shirt.
If Thomas has been below expectations up to now, Alaphilippe and Pinot have raced beyond all expectations, a couple who have repeatedly unhinged the bolt that Ineos (the former Team Sky) has been used to impose on the Tour for years: Alaphilippe not only won on his favorite terrain, but he surprisingly beat everyone in the Pau time trial and defended himself like a lion on the Tourmalet.
Two weeks lived in the yellow jersey, showing a dimension and depth that make him one of the greats of the moment. But when everyone after the Tourmalet gave him as the most probable winner of this Tour, here comes the first crisis in the last two km of the ascent to Prat d'Albis. Only without a teammate at his side (because Eric Mas, the climber of the Deceuninck Quick Step, had already exploded on Soulor) Alaphilippe showed the first cracks. He saved the yellow jersey but all the more dangerous rivals got closer in the standings.
Luckily for him the Alps arrived after a day of rest and two fairly easy stages in which he hopes to have regained some energy. But today with three hills to climb over 2 thousand it will not be easy for Alaphilippe. And the most popular candidate to snatch the symbol of primacy from him, more than Thomas or Bernal, is another transalpine, Thibaut Pinot, the rider on whom the French have been counting for years to reconquer the Tour. A dream that has remained such for years because Pinot, even if he put his seal on Alpe d'Huez four years ago, has more disappointed than convinced in the Tours raced so far , like Romain Bardet. But this year the captain of Groupama Fdj is proving to be the strongest climber on the Tour, capable of shots that hurt the competition.
Dominator on the Tourmalet and second behind Simon Yates at the Prat d'Albis, Pinot - with no more time trial on the horizon - has three stages in the Alps at his disposal to demonstrate all his superiority and conquer the Tour 34 years after Bernard's last time Hinault in 1985. Pinot arrives at the attack of the Alps, in Thursday's stage which from Embrun arrives in Valloire, in fourth place in the standings at 1'50” from Alaphilippe, preceded by three seconds by the Dutchman Steven Krujiswjick who, like German Emanuel Buchmann (sixth at 2'14”) is running an excellent Tour without ever attracting attention.
The top ten it is completed with Bernal fifth at 2'14", Landa seventh at 4'54", Valverde eighth at 5 minutes, Uran ninth at 5'33" and Porte tenth at 6'30". The first of the Italians is always Fabio Aru, 17th at 14'15”. To lift the morale of the blue pedal, a good victory for Matteo Trentin arrived in Gap. For the European champion it is the third success on the Tour after those in Lyon in 2013 and in Nancy the following year in the edition dominated by Vincenzo Nibali.
