In the old days before Julian Alaphilippe, once the Tour got past 10 stages or so there was always nervous talk about when the French would win a stage. In 2016 it was touch and go till nearly the end (Stage 19) when Bardet finally won in the Alps. Today the French are not talking about stage wins anymore, but even daring to dream about a Tour win. We’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next 3 weeks to see about that, but already we can breathe a sigh of relief because Juju just won after a blistering attack on the last little climb out of Nice late this afternoon.

It was an emotional win for him because he hadn’t won a race all year and his father passed away only two months ago.

My big question, though, is who the heck is Marc Hirschi?! He was the only guy to go with Alaphilippe when he attacked and nearly pipped him at the line in the sprint. Unfortunately for the French, he’s Swiss, so Julian will have to keep on his toes a little more than usual this Tour.