Julian Alaphilippe’s tour de force on Gibraltar Road last week may mark him as a contender in the Tour de France. But whether or not the 23-year-old French cyclist celebrates in Paris this summer, he can say, “I’ll always have Santa Barbara.”
The route for the 2016 Amgen Tour of California comprised 782 miles of pavement to be covered in eight days, and none proved to be more consequential than the seven torturous miles up Gibraltar Road — a first for the 11-year-old tour — at the end of Stage 3. Alaphilippe’s finishing surge gave him the stage victory and the overall lead. He retained the yellow jersey throughout the remaining five stages, all the way to his bubbly-wine-drenched victory celebration in Sacramento last Sunday.
Runner-up Rohan Dennis of Australia wound up 21 seconds behind Alaphilippe in the final standings. He finished 48 seconds behind Alaphilippe on Gibraltar Road, a margin that enabled the Frenchman to forfeit some time, but not too much, when Dennis won the Stage 6 time trial in Folsom.