Philip Deignan believes Julian
Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is about to struggle badly at the Tour de
France and that Mikel Landa (Movistar) can still have a big say.
The Irish rider, who ended his career
with Team Sky last year, believes Geraint Thomas could regroup after yesterday’s
rest day and he believed his Team Ineos team mate Egan Bernal was not going
well.
On Geraint Thomas, Deignan said while
the Welshman lost time on Saturday and Sunday, that second stage in the
mountains was better for him.
Thomas had finished very strongly, aided
by the fact the final climb evened out close to the finish, allowing him to
attack after Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).
“It could have been a full meltdown,” he
said of Thomas being distanced by Pinot on Sunday’s stage.
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“He rides within himself; he also had
(Wout) Poels there and the added advantage of the climb being less steep towards
the top.
“I would say it’s hopeful for him really,” he added of the defending champion’s progress as he sits 2nd overall some 1:35 behind yellow jersey Alaphilippe.
Deignan, who was speaking on the ITV Tour de France podcast, believed Team Ineos would have simply been encouraging Thomas to get to the rest day, reminding him he was still in an excellent position for an assault on yellow during the final week.
On Mikel Landa, who is 7th overall at
4:54, Deignan said he looked in “incredible” form on Sunday.
And when the three stages in the Alps
beginning on Thursday, the Spanish rider could still have a very significant
bearing on the race.
Deignan said while Alaphilippe still had
the yellow jersey, he was a “deflated character” having lost time on Sunday’s
stage 15 when he was dropped for the first time.
“I think it’s starting to dawn on him now,
the task that he has ahead of him ahead of these three big Alpine stages,” he
said.
“On the one hand it’s going to be so
exciting because the race is far from over, there’s still so many riders that
can win the race.
“But for Julian Alaphilippe there’s
worrying times ahead in the Alps. He has spent so much more energy than the
other GC riders.
“That is the difference between a Tour
de France winner and a top 10 GC rider; being able to do those back to back
mountain stages.
“You can get away (with having ridden
too hard too early) on day one or day two of the mountain stages.
“But by the third day in the mountains,
when you need to go deep day after day, that’s when the training of a Grand
Tour rider comes into account.
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“It’s the sheer volume of training that
the GC riders traditionally do; their bodies can handle that volume, that
workload for those three days of climbing.
“And I think that’s what got to Julian Alaphilippe (on Sunday). So then the rest day, and then we’ve got a relatively flat day and potentially windy (stage 16 on Tuesday) and then another day to Gap and then three days in the Alps."
Philip Deignan continued of Alaphilippe: “I think we’ll see a case where he’ll really, really struggle particularly the last three mountain stages because he simply won’t have the recovery to get him through the last one in particular.”
Deignan said he still would not
completely discount him as a general classification possible winner. But he
believed the biggest challenge starts in a few days.
On Steven Kruijswijk of
Jumbo-Visma, who is now 3rd overall, Deignan said the
team was right to back him over George Bennett, saying he was a much more
consistent and proven GC rider.
He also believed Kruijswijk being Dutch in a Dutch team was a
factor in choosing him as general classification leader for the race.
Deignan also said that on stage 10 when
the crosswinds shattered the race, George Bennett was “going back for eight
bidons when the bunch was splitting to pieces” causing him to lose minutes.
He believes Bennett was always in the
Tour to support Kruijswijk’s general classification bid.
Philip Deignan added he was very
impressed with Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) for going on the attack on
Sunday having lost so much time already.
“It would have been very easy for him to
just go home and say ‘the Tour hasn’t worked out, I’m going to go home and
prepare for the Vuelta’. But he came out swinging; it was great to see it.”
On Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Deignan
said the heat that is forecast in France may impact him in coming days, as he
has said himself.
“I can totally understand this coming
week isn’t going suit him with the hot weather. The only advantage is that
being so high at altitude the temperature will be a little bit lower.
“When the racing will be on, the racing
will be quite high; over 1,500 metres normally. So it should be that cooler.
But it’s not ideal for Pinot by any means.”
While the altitude to come would be a
factor, and would suit Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), Deignan pointed out all the
general classification men have done altitude camps.
He believed the altitude camps done by
the European riders helped to bridge the gap to the riders, like Bernal, who
were born and grew up at altitude.
“Bernal is still in the mix but he’s
looked pretty laboured (compared to) the rider than won Paris-Nice.
“I don’t think this is a Bernal at 100
per cent flying former. He’s good but he’s not at his best, I think he looks
very laboured.”
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