{"id":825812,"date":"2026-07-25T19:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T19:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825812\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T19:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T19:44:09","slug":"theres-no-enjoyment-anymore-julian-alaphilippe-says-this-is-his-final-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825812\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There\u2019s no enjoyment anymore\u2019 – Julian Alaphilippe says this is his final Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) sat on the tarmac beyond the finish line at Alpe d\u2019Huez after a second climb to the top in two days at the Tour de France<\/a>, legs outstretched, gaze located somewhere in the middle distance. He looked exhausted, physically of course, but more so emotionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with Warren Barguil just then. There were a lot of emotions. We have suffered a lot in this Tour,\u201d the Frenchman said quietly as Cyclingnews and a small huddle of French media gathered around him.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alaphilippe<\/a> has lit up the Tour de France over the years, his flair and panache carrying him to six stage wins, multiple stints in the yellow jersey and even fifth place overall in 2019. But the sense of energy that has characterised the double World Champion\u2019s career seemed completely drained from the system atop Alpe d\u2019Huez.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m not thinking about tomorrow. I\u2019m thinking about nothing at all,\u201d he said when asked about Sunday\u2019s Paris finale. \u201cAll I really want is to hold my son in my arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alaphilippe went on to make several suggestions that Sunday would be his last dance at the Tour de France. He has a contract with Tudor Pro Cycling through 2027<\/a> but indicated that he will not be returning to the Tour next year, nor ever again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s maybe my last one, so I made the most of it, I gave everything, not with a lot of success but I didn\u2019t leave anything out there. That\u2019s how cycling is,” he told us.<\/p>\n

Moments before, he had told Eurosport not to expect to see him back here in 12 months time. Moments later, speaking in English, he stated it more definitively: \u201cI feel happy to finish this Tour, it\u2019s certainly my last one.”<\/p>\n

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He was then asked whether he had already planned that this would be his final Tour, to which he responded: \u201cI feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barguil, with whom Alaphilippe had crossed the line at Alpe d\u2019Huez to round out the top 30, had made headlines at this Tour de France for his comments on how much the level of the peloton has increased in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, if you did 6 watts per kilo, you were good. Now, you\u2019re a teammate,\u201d Barguil, who won two stages and the polka-dot jersey on the 2017 Tour, told L\u2019Equipe.<\/p>\n

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Alaphilippe struck a very similar note at Alpe d\u2019Huez.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes. You feel that. And I think you see it too. The speeds are crazy, the averages too,\u201d he said of the new generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s harder and harder to get into breakaways, more and more people want to go in the breakaways because there are fewer and fewer victories to go for. Voil\u00e0.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he could still take enjoyment in riding in this Tour, Alaphilippe replied: “No, no. There is no enjoyment there anymore”.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK, it\u2019s over. It\u2019s time to stop when there is no more enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was, to put his comments into full context, referring to stopping the interview, but it was a wry play on words that would indicate that Alaphilippe’s days in this sport are numbered.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! <\/a>Find out more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) sat on the tarmac beyond the finish line at Alpe d\u2019Huez after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-825812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}