Just for displays of panache such as yesterday, Alaphilippe deserves to stay in Yellow

I feel compelled to write this column today in praise of Julian Alaphilippe because if I wait another day or two he may no longer be in yellow.

Nobody seriously expected the Deuceuninck rider to still be wearing the Yellow Jersey this far into the Tour when he first put on the jersey at the end of Stage 3 and the fact he is is what has made this year's edition such a memorable race.

“If by some miracle Alaphilippe does hang on to that Yellow Jersey all the away to Paris, I will be among the many thousands of cycling fans ready to say 'chapeau' to a brilliant rider and a brilliant ride.”

On yesterday's 18th stage to Valoire he seemed to be close to falling away from the GC favourites on the daunting climb up the Galibier but an unforgettable descent put him back in touch with his more fancied rivals with only two stages to go in the Alps before the finale in Paris on Sunday. Alaphilippe still has a lead of one minute and thirty seconds over Team Ineos's Colombian prodigy Egan Bernal and of 1 min and 35 secs over last year's champion Geraint Thomas. Behind these two there is a battle royal for a possible third place on the podium between Jumbo's Steven Kruijswijk, Bora's Emanuel Buchman and Groupama's Thibaut Pinot. Even Movistar's Nairo Quintana is back in the reckoning after his commanding win from a breakaway yesterday.

The one word that keeps coming up during race commentary and any post-race discussion of Alaphilippe's riding is the word 'panache'. He came into the race as the world's No.1 rider and his keen tactical awareness, ability on smaller climbs, brilliant descending and sprinting always meant he would be a favourite to win any stage that didn't finish in a bunch sprint but very few imagined he would be a genuine candidate for overall victory at the end of a gruelling three weeks.

It's true the climbs have been loaded on to the back end of this year's Tour, meaning the time gaps are smaller and more riders are still in contention for the podium than would normally be the case at this stage of the race but Alaphilippe has no right to be where he is. It is only a combination of that 'panache' and genuine grit in the high mountains, as well as that incredible time trial stage in Pau that has kept him where he is.

Nothing could have been more thrilling than the finale to yesterday's stage when Alaphilippe, his face twisted in pain, struggled to keep his rivals within sight as the much depleted peloton of favourites approached the summit. Once he reached the top he then embarked on one of the most exciting, edge-of-your-seat descents seen on the race in many a year. He quickly overhauled his 20 seconds-plus disadvantage on his rivals, latching onto Trek-Segafredo's Richie Porte, almost a forgotten rider in this year's Tour, before slipping past six of his GC favourites on a switchback section of the descent in an unbelievable 45 seconds. That clip of Alaphilippe overtaking riders on the inside, when there was room, or on the outside when there wasn't was already emerging as a hit on Twitter within minutes of the stage ending. It seemed as though Alaphilippe could easily have ploughed on and reeled in Ineos escapee Bernal too but discretion became the better part of valour as he decided to freewheel into Valoire with the bunch of other GC leaders.

Panache is defined as 'flamboyant confidence of style or manner', or think of it as cockiness with style. Alaphilippe always had the cockiness, right from when he first won a stage on the Vuelta a Espana in 2017. Last year he won two stages of the Tour and finished on the grand podium in Paris wearing the polkadot King of the Mountains jersey. This year he has added the style, not only with his victories in Epernay and Pau but in the way he has worn the Yellow Jersey, seemingly so lightly.

Make no mistake the Yellow Jersey, as ITV Cycling commentator David Millar has said more than once on this tour, puts a 'big, red target on your back'. But Alaphilippe has kept a smile on his face through all the press interviews, pulled a few amused expressions while meeting the French president Emanuel Macron and even won the hearts of mums the world over by draping his yellow jersey around a young fan's shoulders to keep him warm during a cloudburst at the end of yesterday's stage.

At the end of his time trial in Pau on Stage 13, during which he defied the expectations that he would be destroyed by Britain's Geraint Thomas, he came to a halt behind the finish line with the kind of backwheel-sliding skid that you would expect from a child on his mountain bike, not a potential champion in the world's biggest bike race.

Today, which features a summit finish at Tignes, is the day it is expected that Alaphilippe's challenge will begin to fall away. He showed signs yesterday that his strength might be waning as he neared the summit of the Galibier and today there will be no descent on the other side to allow him to regain lost time. In the post Lance Armstrong, a one minute 30 second lead may sound like quite a lot, but across three weeks it's really only the blink of an eye.

A puncture at the wrong time or a minor crash could wipe out that lead in moments. Alaphilippe's Deuceuninck teammates have shown a lack of strength in depth to see him through such a crisis should it occur at a key moment in the race. Only Enric Mas, whose only Yellow Jersey challenge faded away on the 15th stage, can stay with Alaphilippe in the high mountains and that assistance is by no means guaranteed.

People have put this year's exciting racing down to Team Ineos's failure to control the race in the way Team Sky would have done on past tours riding for four-time champion Chris Froome but Ineos are still sitting pretty. If Alaphilippe's challenge does fall away, Bernal will be in the lead with Thomas just five seconds behind. They can play off their two star riders against the other GC rivals to the team's advantage. They have lost road captain Luke Rowe to a silly bit of mid-stage fighting with his Jumbo counterpart Tony Martin, but by this part of a major tour most teams are at least one man down on their full complement as the result of crashes, poor form or illness so it shouldn't be a significant handicap.

However if by some miracle Alaphilippe does hang on to that Yellow Jersey all the away to Paris, I will be among the many thousands of cycling fans ready to say 'chapeau' to a brilliant rider and a brilliant ride.