Page 21 - ARUBA TODAY

A21
SPORTS Monday 29 July 2019
A star is born at the Tour: 22-year-old champion Egan Bernal

By JOHN LEICESTER the jersey back on Stage 8,
SAMUEL PETREQUIN which he held through the
AP Sports Writers Pyrenees and into the Alps.
PARIS (AP) — The skies over And it was there that Ber-
Paris were yellow, ignited nal, raised at altitude in
by a glorious golden sunset. Colombia and at home in
The partying fans' shirts were thinner air, struck.
yellow, Colombians mak- Bernal flew up the Tour's
ing themselves at home on highest climb, the dizzying
the Champs-Elysees. Iseran pass at 2,770 me-
But the yellow that counted ters (9,088-feet) above sea
most was the iconic jersey level, demolishing what
that fit so snugly on the slim remained of Alaphilippe's
shoulders of Egan Bernal. lead on Stage 19 and
His crowning Sunday as the building a sizeable one of
Tour de France's youngest his own .
post-World War II cham- The watch was then
pion, and its first from South stopped, with Bernal way
America, heralded the ahead, when the hailstorm
birth of a new supernova in suddenly coated the route
the cycling universe. with ice, amid fears that
Winning a Tour for the ages riders on tires barely wider
at the unusually young age than their thumbs could
of 22 immediately prompt- skid off into the rock- and
ed the question: How many ravine-scarred Alpine dé-
more might he win? cor. Compounding the mis-
Get this: He's younger than ery for France, Pinot aban-
the Tour's greatest cham- doned the race in tears,
pions — five-time winners hobbled by a left-thigh
Jacques Anquetil, Eddy muscle tear .
Merckx, Bernard Hinault And that was that. The Tour
and Miguel Indurain — all that had been careening
were when they were first to a rock 'n' roll finish instead
crowned. Pity those in the had the plug pulled on it.
peloton who also hope to Landslides also truncated
win future editions of cy- Colombia's Egan Bernal stands on the podium after winning the 2019 Tour de France cycling race the last Alpine Stage 20,
cling's greatest race: They in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2019. which still proved too long
could be in for quite a wait. Associated Press for the by-now exhausted
"I am the most happy guy Alaphilippe, who slipped
in the world. I just won the the 116-year history of the music to support him,'" said guest. An almighty dump off the podium entirely, de-
Tour de France, and, yeah, race, with just 1 minute, clarinet-playing Colombian of torrential rain and hail spite getting words of en-
I can't believe it," Bernal 31 seconds separating first fan Sebastian Cortes, who severed the Tour route just couragement in a call the
said, looking bemused on and third places after three traveled from Strasbourg in as Bernal was succeeding previous night from French
the podium in the race win- weeks of racing. eastern France for the cel- in ripping the race lead off President Emmanuel Ma-
ner's jersey and silhouetted The 21st and final stage ebration. Alaphilippe, who'd clung cron.
by the splendid sunset. was won in a sprint finish But millions of French fans to it like a kid with a favorite Thomas used the last Al-
The slightly built Colom- on the famous avenue by who had lined the roads toy. pine climb to secure the
bian with a killer instinct on Australian Caleb Ewan, the through east, central and "Julian Alaphilippe made runner-up spot in Paris, giv-
the road proved to be the dominant sprinter of his first southern France, and up us dream," said Celes- ing the Ineos team a po-
strongest of the 176 strong Tour with three stage wins. into the thinning air of the tin Simon, a Parisian who dium 1-2 with Bernal. Third-
men who roared off from Keeping with race tradition Pyrenees and Alps, were ru- cheered his hero on the placed Kruijswijk, a Dutch
the start in Brussels, Belgium, on its final day, the 155 rid- ing a bitter-sweet Tour. Champs-Elysees in a pointy Mr. Steady, pulled off the
on July 6 on their 3,366-kilo- ers who survived the Tour First, their hearts soared hat of French red, white feat of being wholly unre-
meter (2,092-mile) odyssey rode at a pedestrian pace with fabulous racing from and blue. "Unfortunately, markable during the three
that delivered the most and in a joyful atmosphere French riders Alaphilippe, there's no victory at the weeks, while Alaphilippe,
absorbing, drama-packed before hitting the Champs- who held the iconic yel- end." Pinot and Bernal and oth-
Tour in decades and con- Elysees. Bernal chatted low jersey for 14 days, and Alaphilippe, more than ers rocked.
firmation that the prodigy with French rival Julian Ala- Thibaut Pinot, who won on anyone, first ignited and Quite remarkably, none of
Bernal is the real deal. philippe and raised a glass the first of seven 2,000-me- then stoked what will long the top four riders won a
Riding a yellow bike, and of champagne as he rode. ter-plus (6,500-feet) peaks be remembered as a Tour stage. Alaphilippe, in fifth,
cheered by Colombian At the finish, Bernal fell into scaled by the highest Tour of fireworks . With his goatee won two.
fans who were partying the arms of his family. in history. beard and can't-catch-me "Honestly, I prefer having
even before he rattled up "I cannot believe it. It's just But joy turned to sorrow attacks that rivals couldn't won two stages and 14
the cobblestones of the incredible. I am sorry. I have when Alaphilippe and Pi- match, Alaphilippe em- days in yellow than doing
Champs-Elysees, Bernal no words," he said through not's prospects of becom- bodied "panache ," the nothing and finishing third,"
crossed the line with his a translator. "I still can't un- ing France's first winner old-school class so cher- Alaphilippe said Sunday.
teammate Geraint Thom- derstand what is happen- since Hinault in 1985 were ished by Tour fans. So instead of a red-white-
as, the 2018 champion who ing to me." cruelly dashed just two Alaphilippe's enterprise first and-blue celebration, Paris
this year finished second. Tearful Colombians cele- days before the grand fina- put him in yellow in Cham- instead got painted in Co-
Steven Kruijswijk completed brated their new hero. le in Paris, on an epic Stage pagne country on Stage 3 lombian red, blue and yel-
what Tour organizers said "When I saw that he won, I 19 where Mother Nature and then, after he lost the low.
was the tightest podium in said, 'I need to go with my became a party-pooping lead on Stage 6, got him Lots and lots of yellow.q