Jalabert celebrates Bastille Day with a solo second coming

Six years after his victory at Mende in the Tour on Bastille Day, this 14 July Laurent Jalabert gave his countrymen another jour de gloire with a fine stage win in the Tour de France, his second in four days.

Just like at Mende, Jalabert won alone, but whereas in 1995 his victory came as the culmination of a day-long spectacular attack in the company of two team-mates, this time Ja-Ja, as Jalabert is affectionately nicknamed, took off by himself on a rainsoaked descent just 7km from the finish in Colmar.

The 32-year-old had formed part of a five-man move which had developed over 100km earlier in a short, nervous stage through the Vosges mountains. But after the former amateur world champion Ivan Basso had gone sprawling on to the side of the road in a high-speed crash on a right-hand bend, the three other breakaways – including the German, Jens Voigt, who took over the race lead from his team-mate Stuart O'Grady – failed to collaborate enough to reel in Jalabert.

Like so many of his compatriots, Jalabert seems to have a fine sense of the symbolic. Even before this 14 July display of cycling fireworks, he had won only his third stage victory in the Tour three days ago in Verdun, the First World War battle town which in the nation's subconscious represents France's military sacrifices.

Returning to the fray three days later to win another Tour stage on the national holiday will have done even more to restore battered national sporting pride after the loss of the Olympics to Beijing.

Jalabert said he felt his cycling spirit had been unchained by these victories. "After a year without winning, my first victory set me free," he said. "I felt I had more confidence to get back on the front again. I'm sorry for Basso, because I am sure he would have given me a good run, but after managing to get away so close to the finish there was no way I was going to stop."

However, Jalabert put a firm stop to ideas that he could try to win overall. "My best result was fourth in 1995, but even that is not a realistic option for me again. I felt inspired today by watching the Bastille Day parades on TV, but Paris is still two weeks away."

While French television commentators at least agreed that his victory was magnifique, the Vosges stage, held in intermittent heavy rain, had proved something of a damp squib as regards the general classification.

The last time the Tour visited these mountains in 1997, that year's winner, Jan Ullrich, had come within a whisker of losing the race after losing team support. This time, expectation was high that at least one of the favourites would try to test the water on the long, steady climbs in deep pinewoods.

But while the Australian Stuart O'Grady found the three third-category and two second-category climbs too much and was forced to cede the maillot jaune to the more accomplished climber, Voigt, all that was seen of the favourites was a brief dig by the German, Ullrich, and the Spaniard, Joseba Beloki, on a short climb mid-way through the stage.

The winner of the race for the last two years, Lance Armstrong, had no problems squashing that particular move and, although the long line of riders chasing Jalabert's move split into two main pelotons, all the favourites ended safely in the front group. It came home five minutes behind the breakaways.

But Ja-Ja was not the only rider with pride in Bastille Day. Britain's David Millar, despite being last overall and suffering badly from a leg injury caused by a crash during the Dunkirk prologue, tested the waters early on in a three-man attack.

"I did it because it was 14 July," he said,. "I'm in a French team and it was important for them. Overall, I'm still feeling just a continuing kind of awful." Sadly, though, with all the fuss over Jalabert, his beau geste will probably have gone unnoticed.