Alexis Vuillermoz Explained

Alexis Vuillermoz
Full Name:	Alexis Vuillermoz
Nickname:	Pikachu
Birth Date:	1 June 1988
Birth Place:	Saint-Claude, Jura, France
Height:	^[1]
Weight:	600NaN0
Role:	Rider
Ridertype:	Puncheur^[2]
Amateuryears1:	2006–2008
Amateurteam1:	Scott–Les 2 Alpes
Amateuryears2:	2009–2012
Amateurteam2:	Lapierre International
Amateuryears3:	2012
Amateurteam3:	(stagiaire)
Proyears1:	2013
Proyears2:	2014–2020
Proteam2:	^[3] ^[4]
Proyears3:	2021–
Majorwins:	Grand Tour Tour de France 1 individual stage (2015)

Alexis Vuillermoz (born 1 June 1988) is a French road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI ProTeam .^[5]

Career

Mountain biking (2006–2012)

He was originally a mountain bike racer before switching to road cycling, winning the French national under-23 mountain bike title twice and riding as part of the French national team that took the team relay title at the 2008 Mountain Bike World Championships.

Sojasun (2013)

He was a member of the team that competed at the 2013 Tour de France,^[6] finishing the race 46th overall.

Ag2r–La Mondiale (2014–2020)

Vuillermoz joined for the 2014 season, after his previous team – – folded at the end of the 2013 season. In the eighth stage of the 2015 Tour de France, Vuillermoz attacked the leading group on the Mûr-de-Bretagne to cross the line solo atop the hill.^[7] "After winning I thought about my dad who died three years ago. He was the one who got me interested in the Tour de France, he used to take my cousins and I to the side of the road to watch the Tour go past," said Vuillermoz. "I hope today he's proud of me."^[7]

In 2016, Vuillermoz finished in 23rd position in the Olympics men's road race and in 29th position in the Olympic men's road time trial.

He started the 2018 Tour de France, but was forced to abandon with a scapular fracture sustained after colliding with a roadside spectator trying to take a photo in one of the cobbled sectors on stage 9 to Roubaix.^[8]

Total Direct Énergie (2021–present)

In October 2020, Vuillermoz signed an initial two-year contract with the team, from the 2021 season.^[9] In his first season with the team, he finished fourth at the Tour du Finistère,^[10] and seventh overall at the Tour du Rwanda.^[11] During the Tour de Suisse, Vuillermoz crashed during the seventh stage individual time trial, fracturing his pelvis and doctors advised him not to race again.^[12] ^[13]

At the start of the 2022 season, Vuillermoz recorded top-ten finishes in four of his first five race starts, with a best finish of fourth place at the GP Miguel Induráin. Later in the month, he finished third at the Classic Grand Besançon Doubs, and recorded a tenth-place finish in La Flèche Wallonne. That June, Vuillermoz won a stage from the breakaway at the Critérium du Dauphiné,^[13] winning a sprint finish of five riders in Brives-Charensac that managed to fend off the peloton by five seconds and assumed the race lead following the stage.^[14] Having extended his contract by a further two years in August,^[15] Vuillermoz did not return to the podium until October's Gran Piemonte, where he finished in third place.^[16]