A world champion’s jersey won during the prologue of the Tour de la Provence this Wednesday at Berre-l’Étang (Bouches-du-Rhône). Unfortunately for the public, it is not that of Julian Alaphilippe. Because during the timed exercises, the world champion on the road is not allowed to wear his beautiful iridescent jersey. This privilege went to Filippo Ganna, the world time trial champion. And the Italian from Ineos did honor to his tunic by taking only eight minutes and five seconds to cover the 7.1 km of the course. Ganna edged his young British teammate Ethan Hayter by twelve seconds. The best Frenchman, Pierre Latour (Total Energies) finished fifth at fifteen seconds, just ahead of Alaphilippe who lost seventeen seconds. This result is very encouraging for him.
“The season is finally starting and I was eager for it to resume, breathes Alaphilippe as soon as the line is crossed. This first effort was special. I just wanted to hurt myself and see what it would give. We’ll see what happens over the next three days. In any case, this sixth place is encouraging. I didn’t particularly expect to be in the top 10. I didn’t have any specific ambitions. But it’s good. »
Alaphilippe’s first instinct, after taking a breather, was to immediately ask for Filippo Ganna’s time to find out where he stood against the best in the world in this timed exercise. “There is zero pressure in the team, he retorts when it is pointed out to him. All I want is to find some rhythm. Afterwards, if we have the opportunity to shine on this Tour de la Provence, we will do the job. I am not a defeatist. There’s a great race ahead of us, great weather and a different course from last year. Already tomorrow (Friday), if there is wind, we can have sport. “And not sure that, in this hypothesis, Alaphilippe is hiding in the peloton.