{"id":827721,"date":"2026-07-26T19:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827721\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T19:14:14","slug":"theres-no-enjoyment-anymore-julian-alaphilippe-celebrates-potentially-last-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827721\/","title":{"rendered":"“There’s no enjoyment anymore” Julian Alaphilippe celebrates potentially last Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

After three brutal weeks of racing, most riders still in the Tour de France will be relieved to roll (or bus) into Paris on Sunday. Perhaps none more than Julian Alaphilippe.<\/p>\n

Tudor\u2019s two time world champion rolled across the line Saturday, hand-in-hand with fellow Frenchman Warren Barguil. The two veteran campaigners were far off their best results at the Tour, but neither seemed too bothered once across the line.<\/p>\n

In interviews post-stage, Alaphilippe was calm and measured when he told reporters, \u201cI feel happy to finish this Tour, it\u2019s certainly my last one.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little sadness, and little of the frustration seen on the faces of others left wanting more after three weeks. While it wasn\u2019t the easiest Grand Tour for the Tudor racer, he seemed quite at peace with the idea that Sunday might be his last Tour de France stage ever, not just for 2026.<\/p>\n

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

It is the end of an era for the Frenchman and for the Tour de France. He ends his run at the Grand Boucle with six stage wins, a fifth overall in 2019 and several stints in the yellow leader\u2019s jersey. A dream career by any measure.<\/p>\n

\"Julian<\/a>Alaphilippe and Canada\u2019s Derek Gee on Col De Sarenne during Stage 20 racing. Photo: Sirotti<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Tour results were far from those career highs.<\/p>\n

\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,\u201d Alaphillipe told a small crowd of reporters.<\/p>\n

Despite that, the reason that this year marks the end is simple, and straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no enjoyment there anymore,\u201d Alaphilippe says. \u201cIt\u2019s OK, it\u2019s over. It\u2019s time to stop when there is no more enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three brutal weeks of racing, most riders still in the Tour de France will be relieved to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[112150,49,48,635,11255,82,636],"class_list":["post-827721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-tour-de-france","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-julian-alaphilippe","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827721","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=827721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}