Tour de France 2019: Thibaut Pinot wins 14th stage; Julian Alaphilippe increases lead

Tour de France 2019: Julian Alaphilippe tightens yellow jersey grip with surprise time-trial win Alaphilippe passed another big test in the 73-mile ride from Tarbes to cross the line in second spot, stretching his advantage over defending champion Thomas by 36 seconds to 2:02.Alaphilippe claimed a surprise individual time-trial win Friday – the 100th anniversary of the yellow jersey – and made another statement to his rivals in the mountains. Related News 1. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 642. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) 423. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) 37WHAT’S NEXT?The penultimate week will end with a 115-mile ride from Limoux to Prat d’Albis on Sunday. The climbers will come to the fore on a narrow, twisting final ascent of 7.3 miles. Alaphilippe stuck to Thomas’ wheel on the brutal final ascent of iconic Tourmalet – where he sealed the King of the Mountains title last year – and continued to press on after moving past Thomas in the final mile.Thomas looked weary as he lost time on a stage witnessed by French President Emmanuel Macron, but Steven Kruijswijk dug in to finish third and remain in the same position of the general classification standings. Egan Bernal, Thomas’ teammate, was fifth and trails Pinot by three minutes, while Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana and Richie Porte struggled.Warren Barguil and Elie Gesbert attacked before being reeled in on the lung-busting final climb, and it was Pinot who emerged from a group of a dozen to take the win.Last kilometre – Col du Tourmalet Watch, listen, enjoy Regardez, écoutez, profitez #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/APufObsVZP— Tour de France(@LeTour) July 20, 2019 STAGE RESULT1. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) 3:10.202. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:063. Steven Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma) +0:064. Emanuel Buchman (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:085. Egan Bernal (Team INEOS) +0:08CLASSIFICATION STANDINGSGeneral Classification1. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 56:11:292. Geraint Thomas (INEOS) +2:023. Steven Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo-Visma) +2:14Points Classification1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 2842. Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) 1913. Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 184King of the Mountains Thibaut Pinot powered his way up the Col du Tourmalet to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, and Julian Alaphilippe increased his lead over Geraint Thomas on a memorable day for French cycling.Pinot summoned one final burst to secure a magnificent victory in the first high-altitude finish of this year’s race in the Pyrenees in his homeland, banishing the memories of his Stage 10 crosswind woes.