Only two riders racing this year's Tour de France have more stage wins to their name than Julian Alaphilippe's six. Tadej Pogačar has the fifth-most on the all-time list with 24, while sprinter Jasper Philipsen will be hoping to add to his 10 sprint wins in the coming days.
The Tudor leader is racing the eighth Tour of his career, but he's less likely to add to his tally this July. Wednesday's sprint stage 11 to Nevers was his 82nd without a win, a drought that stretches back to the opening day of the 2021 race.
Tudor, racing for the second time, has endured a disappointing race thus far, with Rick Pluimers' sixth place on stage 8 their only top-10 result. Alaphilippe, who hadn't won a race all season before heading to Barcelona, hasn't finished higher than 78th. It's a long way from the summer of 2019, when he led much of the race before finishing fifth in Paris.
"We have to be honest, this isn't the easiest Tour for him," Tudor directeur sportif Addy Engels told L'Equipe after stage 10, where Alaphilippe finished 38 minutes behind Pogačar.
He attacked in the early kilometres of the stage, but wasn't a threat to make the break, never mind compete for a top result. Stage 11 brought better luck as he attacked 5km into the stage and made the break of the day. He was the first one of the quartet to let go, 36km from the finish line. He'd cross it in dead last place, 7:36 behind stage winner Søren Wærenskjold.
Pluimers said that his rider keeps trying "because it's his character. He maintains his fighting spirit" even if he's a long way from his brilliant best of his peak years between 2018 and 2021.
"It's as if he only has one or two rounds left to fire. Then his legs give out, and he's forced to slow down," Engels said, though he had answers for the star rider's struggles.
"If we knew why, we could make certain decisions. He's not sick. He feels OK. He has the right mentality; that's never been a problem with him," Engels said,
"But he doesn't have the legs he should have. On Sunday, before the rest day, he was very active. We thought he was on the right track. But clearly, today, it's gone in the other direction."
There doesn't seem to be much hope for Alaphilippe to add stage win seven to his collection before the race hits Paris.
Things don't look promising for his teammates, including Australian climber Michael Storer, who finished seventh at the Giro d'Italia, and Swiss puncheur Marc Hirschi, whose form has nosedived since switching from UAE Team Emirates-XRG 18 months ago, either.
Engels, though, holds out hope for Alaphilippe. "As long as we don't know what's happening to him, magic can still happen," the Dutchman concluded optimistically.
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