Paris was filled with Colombian flags to celebrate the yellow jersey of Egan Bernal, which with his 22 years and also the youngest post-war Tour winner. A beautiful and enthralling Tour where until the end it was not known who would win, punctuated by exploits and populated by personalities who have left their mark. In the end it was a great triumph for Colombian cycling, which placed two of its other big names in the top ten of the standings: Rigoberto Urán seventh at 5'15” e Nairo Quintana eighth at 5'30”, the latter protagonist of the stage of the Galibier won in solitude on the finish line in Valloire.
Hugged by his parents, his little brother and his fiancée, Bernal appeared moved, almost embarrassed, he thanked everyone, without forgetting Italy, where he took his first steps in cycling after being discovered and reported by Gianni Savio, struck by his qualities as a grimpeur. And it was Italian, Androni Toys-Sidermec, the first team to hire him as a professional. And in Italy he should have come to this year's Giro but a fall in training made him miss the pink race, diverting him to the Tour, where he would have teamed up with Thomas but also Froome.
But also Froome crashing disastrously at the Dauphine Tour, he had to forfeit. There Ineos – even if in the team classification it was overtaken by Movistar by Landa, Quintana and Valverde – it is the winning team that places its two co-leaders in the first two places, but the missed encore of Thomas, second behind Bernal, interrupts the long British dominance in the Tour, while sending South American cycling into orbit, which has conquered both the pink jersey with Richard Carapaz, both yellow jersey with Bernal.
The last stage, lived competitively only in the spectacular sprint on the Champs Elysèès, saw Caleb Ewan excel, with a comeback of his own, who burned Dylan Groenewen and Niccolò Bonifazio. For the Australian it is the third success in this Tour.
HERE ARE THE REPORT CARDS OF THE TOUR: ONLY ONE WINNER, BUT MANY PROTAGONISTS
Egan Bernal: vote 10. He was the favorite on the eve with Geraint Thomas and he did not disappoint expectations, even if it was not clear which of the two horses they were betting on at Ineos. Only in the Alps, crippled by bad weather, did Bernal take action, showing off his immense qualities as a climber. On the Galibier Thomas also tried in vain to chase him as if he were a rival and not a teammate. But in the neutralized stage of the Iseran, which gave the yellow jersey to Bernal, even the Welshman, unwillingly or not, gave the Colombian the green light, who would also have won in Tignes if he hadn't been stopped by the organizers. Dave Brailsford, the team manager of Sky and now of Ineos, defined Bernal as "the Messi of cycling": with the difference that the footballer, although very great in Barcelona, has not yet given Argentina a victory while the Andean cyclist, discovered from Gianni Savio who brought him to Italy to train in Ceresole Reale when he was not yet twenty, he has all the air and the possibilities to give Colombia not only yellow jerseys, but also pink jerseys from the Giro and red ones from the Vuelta. At the age of 22, winning Paris-Nice, the Tour de Suisse and the Tour in the same year is predestined to join the club of greats of all eras.
Geraint Thomas: vote 7. He shared maximum favors with Bernal on the eve of the Tour but at Ineos, which like the previous Team Sky, is financed by British capital, the Welshman was the preferred co-leader. But Thomas, who is not Froome, after convincing action at the Planche des Belles Filles, did nothing extraordinary to become the master of the Tour. In the Pyrenees and the Alps he also showed some cracks just as Bernal was about to take off. In the end, it went well for him that Alaphilippe's failure on the ascent of Val Thorens allowed him to return to second place completing the success of Ineos.
Julian Alaphilippe: vote 9. He finishes the Tour only fifth, but up to five km from the summit of Iseran it was the yellow jersey that thrilled France, setting the Tour ablaze with its explosive finales and with the success against all odds in the Pau time trial. Two stage victories, 14 days in the yellow jersey, a Tour run always at the forefront which greatly increases the thickness of a rider is already one of the most formidable in the one-day classics, especially if they have a bumpy finish. Despite having left the podium area, Alaphilippe still took the prize-giving stage, receiving that of "super combative of the 2019 Tour", an exceptional recognition decided by the jury and by popular acclaim.
Thibaut Pinot: vote 8. Recovering in the Pyrenees what the fans of Albi and the time trial of Pau had made him lose, the Frenchman presented himself at the foot of the Alps in the best conditions to finally try to win the Tour, bringing the yellow jersey back to France which it has been missing since Bernard Hinault's last success in 1985. In the Pyrenees Pinot had given a show by winning at the top of the Tourmalet and also overtaking Bernal in the podium area in the standings: with no more time trials before Paris but only mountains, everyone gave Pinot as a possible winner of the Tour But a muscle injury forced Pinot to abandon himself in the first km of the Iseran stage. He will definitely try again next year.
Caleb ewan: vote 9. He won the challenge of the sprinters making his three stages always coming back from behind like a bolt of lightning that strikes his opponents when they now believe they have won. Just like in the sprint that concluded a beautiful and thrilling Tour in Paris right up to the end: the scenography changes, yesterday sumptuous with the Champs Elysées gilded in the sunset, but the dynamics are always the same, with Ewan suddenly emerging from behind onto the left brushing the barriers and making Dylan Groenewegen dry for the second time, as in Toulouse: the Australian thus won the challenge among the sprinters of the Tour with three successes against only one by Viviani, Groenewegen and Sagan. But Sagan, despite winning only once, achieves the goal that he had set for himself in this Tour: to win the seventh green jersey in the points classification, beating the record that he shared at six points with the German Eric Zabel.
Vincenzo Nibali: vote 7. For 19 stages he raced anonymously if we exclude a hint of a sprint with Tim Wellens at the Col du Soulor Gpm. Precipitated early to more than an hour behind the podium, with a team that will leave next year, Bahrain-Merida which had forced him to participate in the Tour while the Vuelta was in his plans, the Shark inflated the trumpets of his critics ready to give him. Certainly he was doing a Tour below the sufficiency, but class is not water and here is the champion who brings out the best in himself - legs, heart and pride - and flies off alone to seize the prestigious Val Thorens finish line . And a Nibali who is once again a Squalo, in the Champs Elysées carousel, also allows himself to slow down and slip away from the group to wait, like any follower, for his companion, Sonny Colbrelli, delayed by a mechanical accident, helping him bring him back to the group. How do you fail a champion who has won two Giros, a Vuelta and a Tour and who in 2016 took part in the Grande Boucle with the declared intention of training in view of the Rio Olympics?
Simon yates: vote 7. He doesn't have Nibali's pedigree but he's someone who knows how to do it, Simon also came to the Tour announcing that he was only aiming for the stages and that for the classification he would be of help to his twin Adam. Said and done: he immediately disappeared from the high classification Simon took two prestigious victories on the Pyrenees and even on the day of the Iseran he was in the lead with Bernal when they were stopped for the neutralization of the stage. Certainly he is the twin who comes out better from the Tour, the other Adam, he gave up early slipping to the rear of the middle of the standings.
