Form is temporary, but star quality is permanent. When the organisers of the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et Montréal held a press briefing with the race favourites on Wednesday afternoon, the biggest scrum formed around Julian Alaphilippe, just as it did on his last appearance in these parts in 2019.
On that occasion, Alaphilippe was cycling’s man of the moment, having dominated the Spring and then spent two dizzying weeks in the yellow jersey, an adventure that almost saw him win the Tour de France itself.
This time out, the Frenchman arrives in Canada at the end of a season of largely unrewarded labour, a year marked by perspiration but bereft of inspiration. Victories at the Ardèche Classic and the Critérium du Dauphiné suggested a corner might have been turned. At the Classics and the Tour, however, he ran into repeated dead ends.
“I think it was a difficult year for me, with not a lot of success,” Alaphilippe confessed. “But it’s also been an important year, a year where I could learn a lot.”
The unwanted lessons already began in April of last year when Alaphilippe sustained two broken ribs, a broken scapula, and a punctured lung in a mass crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The recovery was arduous, and his return to competition at the end of last season was ill starred.
Victory on the Mur de Huy at the Tour de Wallonie was followed by a bout of COVID-19. A serviceable cameo on Remco Evenepoel’s behalf at the Vuelta a España was ended by a heavy crash. Alaphilippe hoped to start again from scratch in 2023, but the vim of old never quite returned. The road back from the Liège crash has been more arduous than anticipated.
“I think after last season, I wanted to do everything I could to come back on my level this year, and that’s what I’ve done,” Alaphilippe said. “Now, for the results, I have to be patient and continue to work hard like I always did. I hope to do a good end of the season and to have some success. That’s all I can say. I’m really motivated, and I’m doing everything I can to come back on my best level.”
Alaphilippe’s travails this season have played out against a persistent soundtrack of rumours linking him with a move away from Soudal-QuickStep before the expiry of his contract at the end of next year. That speculation was helped on its way by some typically frank declarations of tough love from manager Patrick Lefevere – “He has the salary of a champion, but he also has to prove that he is…
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