Warren Barguil the indisputable King of the Mountain on the Izoard

ByFelix Lowe

Updated 21/07/2017 at 13:30 GMT

Warren Barguil rode himself into the history books on Thursday on the Tour’s first ever summit finish on the Col d’Izoard. With a brace of stage wins, a polka dot jersey, and a place in the top ten in this year’s Grande Boucle – let’s hope the Frenchman stays at swashbuckling Sunweb rather than be distracted by the lure of pastures new and a star-studded Sky.

When the race moved onto the final 14km slog of the Izoard, Barguil already had the polka dot jersey in the bag. With the pressure off his shoulders – and the GC favourites marking each other out – the 25-year-old rode clear in pursuit of the remaining escapees, taking Spanish veteran Alberto Contador with him.

Watch every minute of the Tour de France LIVE on Eurosport Player

It’s a sign of the times that Contador – the double Tour champion, but a spent forced in today’s cycling currency – couldn’t keep up with the pace set by a relative rookie who has won over the hearts of a nation this July.

Tour de France

Wiggins: This could just be the start for G - he could win again next year

30/07/2018 at 09:40

Romain Bardet may be just 23 seconds off the yellow jersey summit, but it’s Barguil – with his Chambery near-miss, his never-say-die attitude, his Bastille Day heroics in Foix, his resplendent polka dot jersey, and now his second Tour stage win – who has captured the imagination of France and all of those watching (except, perhaps, fans from Colombia).

For in catching Darwin Atapuma inside the final kilometre, Barguil denied the UAE Team Emirates rider a win on Colombia Day. How Atapuma must hate the sight of Frenchmen’s backsides: having been beaten at the eleventh hour in mountaintop finishes in the 2016 Vuelta by Lilian Calmajane and Pierre Latour, the Colombian has another Grand Tour second place to go in his collection.

As for Barguil, he’s been a revelation in this year’s Tour – less than three months after fracturing his hip in the Tour de Romandie. After a 2016 season derailed by the same horrific Argos-Shimano training crash in Spain that put paid to John Degenkolb’s campaign, Barguil finally seems to be emerging from the woods.

The 25-year-old was once seen as his team’s great general classification hope after bursting onto the scene in 2013 with two stage victories in his debut Vuelta. But years of bad luck, crashes, injuries and stagnation followed – all while Dutch team-mate Tom Dumoulin rose in stature to become Sunweb’s answer to Chris Froome by winning the Giro earlier this summer.

Amazingly, his win in the Pyrenees on Bastille Day was his first since that Vuelta brace. And now he’s doubled up to become the first rider to win two Tour stages while wearing the polka dot jersey since the great Colombian climber Luis Herrera in 1985 – six years before Barguil was even born.

Provided he gets to Paris in one piece, Barguil will win the polka dot jersey competition by more than double the points tally of his nearest opponent, the conqueror of the Galibier and former ski jumper – Primoz Roglic. When he does, he will be the second Frenchman in the past five years to win a two mountain scalps and the king of the mountains competition.

With Annemiek Van Vleuten – the Dutchwoman who crashed so scarily in the Rio Olympics last summer – winning La Course just hours before Barguil triumphed in the Casse Deserte, you’d be hard pressed to get two more popular winners on the Izoard on Thursday.

It was a double double for Sunweb, too, with Barguil joining the team-mate Michael Matthews with two wins in this year’s race. In fact, a triple double if you take into account the Australian’s green jersey.

“It’s really fantastic. I can’t believe it. It’s a dream for me. It has been a dream three weeks,” beamed Barguil. “Last night I was discussing it with Michael [Matthews] and we never would have expected that we could have the polka-dot and the green jersey and to win two stages for him and one for me, now two. It’s just unbelievable.”

Having jumped above Contador in the top ten, Barguil’s performances have raised the question of whether the Frenchman can target the yellow jersey in future Tours – something Barguil has previously rubbished on the grounds that he doesn’t have the desire, drive or dedication.

After all, Barguil was able to get into so many winning positions in the first place this July by virtue of being far down in the general classification after shipping time in the opening week. It’s a measure of just how well he has ridden that Barguil is now ninth on GC after languishing in 57th after Stage 5 to La Planche des Belles Filles.

Heck, days later, Barguil was more than 14 minutes in arrears after his compatriot Calmejane won in Station des Rousses – sinking a further two minutes back after that ramped finish in Peyragudes. To have risen so much in this final week is nothing short of exceptional. It's no wonder Warren can't stop smiling.

Warren Barguil: It is a dream, unbelievable

As Barguil said: “It will take a few days to sink in, but at the moment I am still in the sky.” Let’s just hope that, once it does sink in, Barguil will not be in the Sky.

Sir Dave Brailsford has made no secret of his desire to win the Tour de France one day with a Frenchman – and in Barguil he could have the perfect blank canvas to work on. Only 25 and still improving, Barguil is indeed out of contract at the end of next year – and with Dumoulin likely to spearhead Sunweb’s Tour de France drive going forward, “WaWa” may pedal elsewhere to fulfil his ambitions and continue growing.

While Sky could undoubtedly make Barguil into a Grand Tour winner, they could equally stifle his free spirit and attacking verve, turn his panache into a spreadsheet.

Warren Barguil attacks the favourites in stage 17

Image credit: Getty Images

Just look at how things have panned out for Mikel Landa, who is tipped to join Movistar next year after two largely troubled years at Sky following his high-profile move from Astana.

At Sky Barguil would never experience the kind of cohesion and companionship as he enjoys at Sunweb – and he could easily fall out of love with the sport that has made him smile so much this summer. So, resist, Warren: don’t let the dark skies eclipse what you can achieve at Sunweb.

Tour de France

Dan Martin reveals he broke his back on Stage 9, still finished sixth overall

28/07/2017 at 12:14