Tour de France: Alaphilippe's instinct leads to champagne in Epernay
Not winning a stage during the Tour de France Grand Départ weekend in Brussels was a disappointment for Deceuninck-QuickStep, but if one stage was perfectly suited for revenge of the so-called ‘Wolfpack’, it was Monday's third stage with its finish in the heart of the Champagne region: in the village of Épernay.
Julian Alaphilippe stormed to a massively deserved stage victory after a brave solo move from 16km out. The dramatic victory from 'Loulou' was overshadowed by a major crash from the team’s workhorse, Kasper Asgreen. Nevertheless, multiple champagne corks will pop at the Deceuninck-QuickStep hotel this evening.
"I don’t know," team manager Patrick Lefevere responded when asked about the size of the evening's celebration, "because we’re staying in a Campanile hotel tonight… There are really great hotels in France. Maybe they’re going to have only five bottles. Maybe I’ll have to send someone to Dom Perignon to buy something."
When Alaphilippe found out that he not only won the stage but also took the yellow jersey from Mike Teunissen, he was overcome by emotions. He's the first French rider to wear the maillot jaune since Tony Gallopin in 2014.
"I won in the most beautiful way, taking the jersey too," Alaphilippe said.
Thanks to his adventurous solo, Alaphilippe won the stage and now leads the general classification by 20 seconds over Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
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