"I think I owe him a drink tonight" - Romain Grégoire pays tribute to Julian Alaphilippe as French coalition helps keep Maillot Jaune at Tour de Suisse
Cycling
Romain Grégoire did enough to secure at least another day in the Maillot Jaune at the 2025 Tour de Suisse. Although the Frenchman lost time to João Almeida, Oscar Onley and Ben O'Connor, he has reached the halfway mark of the race with a 25 second lead over Kevin Vauquelin in the general classification.
A big reason for Alaphilippe keeping the Yellow Jersey, was a massive help from Julian Alaphilippe. Despite the French pair riding for different teams, Alaphilippe guided Gregoire back to his rivals on the descent towards the finish line, having initially been dangerously distanced on the Cat 1 Splügenpass.
“The goal was to keep yellow,” Grégoire told Cycling Pro in a post-stage interview afterwards, paying tribute to his former world champion compatriot. “So mission accomplished. It was absolutely brutal, and I’m completely shattered. Fortunately, I had Julian with me — he was a massive help after the summit. I think I owe him a drink tonight. I’m really happy with how the day turned out.”
“I knew there would be attacks. I chose to focus on the riders closest to me in the general classification — especially Kevin Vauquelin. He got a bit annoyed with me, but it was the smartest approach. If Onley and O’Connor clawed back a bit of time on me, so be it,” adds the Groupama - FDJ leader, not yet thinking of an overall victory. "Right now, I’m just thinking about recovery — I’m absolutely done in.”
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🖐 Il s'est battu dans la montée, dans la descente puis sur le plat. Jusqu'à la ligne. Romain Grégoire termine 𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞̀𝐦𝐞 de l'étape, à une minute de Joao Almeida, et conserve le maillot jaune ! 🤩
— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) June 18, 2025
𝘏𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦… pic.twitter.com/WSkurWxFyD
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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