Tour de France 2020 - Bradley Wiggins: Julian Alaphilippe may have lost yellow on purpose
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Updated 02/09/2020 at 20:59 GMT
Adam Yates took the yellow jersey at the Tour de France after Julian Alaphilippe picked up a penalty in Stage 5. However, Eurosport’s Bradley Wiggins says there’s a chance the Deceunincks-Quickstep rider committed the offence on purpose.
Adam Yates, Bradley Wiggins and Julian Alaphilippe
Image credit: Eurosport
Did Julian Alaphilippe lose the yellow jersey on purpose? That’s at least one theory behind the Frenchman’s strange rule breaking during Stage 5 of the Tour de France, says Bradley Wiggins.
Speaking on The Breakaway, Eurosport and GCN’s post-stage show, Wiggins told Dan Lloyd and Sean Kelly that there is a chance that Deceuninck – Quick-Step made the ‘error’ to hand the race leader a bidon inside the final 20km on purpose.
"If you’re that desperate for a drink that close to the finish you’ll ask your teammate ‘can I have a bottle’, or at least you’d risk your teammate taking the bottle and giving it to you," Wiggins said. "It seems very strange because the team know the rules, so to put someone there at 20km to go… I mean, we’ll never know.
Picking up a time penalty and losing the yellow jersey would free Alaphilippe up from the pressures of leading the race, and it would also remove the responsibility from the team to force the racing in upcoming stages, something that Wiggins think may have been a tactic.
"I’m open-minded enough to know that that could be a tactical thing – to lose the jersey or whatever, a way of doing that. Because they don’t want to have to ride tomorrow and chase green and it’s the mountain stage and so on. Obviously they didn’t ride today, but the duty falls upon them every day to ride having yellow. Maybe not, maybe that isn’t the case, but I just don’t believe anything I see in the Tour de France really, so we just don’t know."
Eurosport reporter Ashley House asked Alaphilippe’s team-mate Sam Bennett about the very same theory following the stage, but the Irishman denied any conspiracy:
“It’s not that the team are trying to get away with anything,” the Irishman said. “It’s not that we’re trying to cheat or anything, it’s just a mistake and unfortunately we’re paying the price for that. I could see that there was a lot of disappointment there.”
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Is this the moment that cost Alaphilippe the yellow jersey?
Speaking after the stage Adam Yates told reporters that “no-one wants to take yellow like this” and Wiggins agreed that moving into the lead of the Tour de France in such a manner would be underwhelming.
“Look, it is what it is, but it’s brilliant for Adam Yates to take yellow. It’s a strange one because I guess it’s a bit of mixed emotions for him really because he wouldn’t have liked to take it in that way, but he has the jersey now and tomorrow’s another day and it’s a chance for Mitchelton-Scott to show off that jersey and ride.”
Who is top of the GC standings (yellow jersey)?
After Stage 5
- 1. Adam Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott 22h 28' 30''
- 2. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:03
- 3. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:07
- 4. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:09
- 5. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:13
- 6. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
- 7. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott
- 8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
- 9. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
- 16. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:16 (20 second time penalty)
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