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Teams & Riders Julian Alaphilippe Discussion Thread

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Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Gigs_98 said:
He does look a bit like Gilbert in 2011 where he is super strong always makes the right choices and all in all just looks invincible.
Nah, when the likes of Gilbert and Cancellara have looked the strongest, they have been in another stratosphere. Completely invincible. Can also point to Valverde in Fléche Wallone until last year.

Julian hasn't been quite that so far. Fuglsang looked to be the stronger rider in Strade Bianche, but once they got to Siena, obviously Julian was gonna win.

I'll say we wait until the Ardennes. If he is shitting all over Valverde, then yeah.
 
We had that discussion a few days ago but now 7 victories for a "non sprinter" is pretty crazy. If he can keep that up we could actually talk about Alaphilippe 2019 like we do with Gilbert 2011, Boonen2012, etc. Until now Alafpolak has taken at least one victory in every stage race he entered and won all one day races he started. Okay, he started only 2 but still ... for now he has a 100% win rate in those. :D
 
Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Valv.Piti said:
Tonton said:
What else is there to say? Amazing rider. Finally, Julian gets a monument, the only question is: how many more will he win? He was a beast today.
Probably not that many I'd say.

He will be a favourite for Liege every year, but MSR is kind of a lottery and I think Lombardia is too hard atm. Isn't riding Roubaix and Flanders.

Should be happy to win, say, 4 monuments. These are damn hard to get. He will win lots and lots of classics though - AGR, Flèche, Strade, San Sebastian and the Canadians classics er right up his alley.
I'd like to see him give a crack at De Ronde. Especially cause he's faster than all of his teammates who can all play a very tactical game together.
 
Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Red Rick said:
Valv.Piti said:
Tonton said:
What else is there to say? Amazing rider. Finally, Julian gets a monument, the only question is: how many more will he win? He was a beast today.
Probably not that many I'd say.

He will be a favourite for Liege every year, but MSR is kind of a lottery and I think Lombardia is too hard atm. Isn't riding Roubaix and Flanders.

Should be happy to win, say, 4 monuments. These are damn hard to get. He will win lots and lots of classics though - AGR, Flèche, Strade, San Sebastian and the Canadians classics er right up his alley.
I'd like to see him give a crack at De Ronde. Especially cause he's faster than all of his teammates who can all play a very tactical game together.

I was just wondering, "how long until someone says he should do Flanders..?"
 
Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Red Rick said:
Valv.Piti said:
Tonton said:
What else is there to say? Amazing rider. Finally, Julian gets a monument, the only question is: how many more will he win? He was a beast today.
Probably not that many I'd say.

He will be a favourite for Liege every year, but MSR is kind of a lottery and I think Lombardia is too hard atm. Isn't riding Roubaix and Flanders.

Should be happy to win, say, 4 monuments. These are damn hard to get. He will win lots and lots of classics though - AGR, Flèche, Strade, San Sebastian and the Canadians classics er right up his alley.
I'd like to see him give a crack at De Ronde. Especially cause he's faster than all of his teammates who can all play a very tactical game together.
Seems a bit light for De Ronde and not that much of a rolling type to match current top cobbles' field.
He's still in the stage of his career where he can use the variety of skills he has, but at one point he'll have to narrow down the variability due to the natural decline.
That's when he might break it towards the first half of April instead of opting for some GT - related goals (jerseys, stages, even GC placement).
But he'll never have the weight the cobbles like.
 
I always thought Alaphilippe was destined to win Liège or perhaps a world title on a tougher course. Now I think he can win any non-cobbled classic. His climbing is good enough for Lombardia as well.

When was the last time two consecutive monuments were won by a French rider?
 
Re:

Pantani_lives said:
I always thought Alaphilippe was destined to win Liège or perhaps a world title on a tougher course. Now I think he can win any non-cobbled classic. His climbing is good enough for Lombardia as well.

When was the last time two consecutive monuments were won by a French rider?
1992: Jacky Durand (Ronde Van Vlaanderen) and Gilbert Duclos-Lassale (Paris-Roubaix).
 
Re: Re:

Alexandre B. said:
Pantani_lives said:
I always thought Alaphilippe was destined to win Liège or perhaps a world title on a tougher course. Now I think he can win any non-cobbled classic. His climbing is good enough for Lombardia as well.

When was the last time two consecutive monuments were won by a French rider?
1992: Jacky Durand (Ronde Van Vlaanderen) and Gilbert Duclos-Lassale (Paris-Roubaix).
Right! I had to look it up myself. The Italian double has been done before as well: Mottet won Lombardia in 1988, followed by Fignon's M-S in 1989. Clearly French cycling is back at top level.
 
Re:

IndianCyclist said:
He is a class act but whether he can keep his form till LBL remains to be seen. Last year worlds he was on fumes. For targeting worlds/Lombardia he has to forgo the TDF, maybe target the Giro, do Vuelta as training.
There’s nothing between now and Amstel that you’d say he HAS to ride, so it’s probably a good time for some rest and a training block. He could well be fresh and focused for the Ardennes.
 
Mar 19, 2017
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What a start to 2019 season, 7 wins!

Stage 5 at Tour of Colombia
DzmCpc4WsAEI_ir.jpg


Strade Bianche
D1TrTb8XQAMcDdg.jpg


Milan - San Remo
“I came with the goal of winning this race. I’m just as proud of my win as I am of the work of my team today. What they’ve done for me is absolutely exceptional. I rode for the victory at the end bearing their dedication in mind. I recovered in the downhill after I sped up on the Poggio but I still thought it would be complicated to win considering the quality of the riders... I capped it off the nicest way I could. It’s pure joy”
D2XWAKmXQAAFLhn.jpg

#TheWolfpack celebrate @alafpolak's #MilanoSanremo victory.
D2hrMZRWoAIJXwZ.jpg
 
Re:

Alexandre B. said:
Unsurprisingly, despite having the best one-day racer in the world for the first time in gazillion years, Parisian medias are all babbling about an elusive Tour win.

They were definitely talking about it on L'Equipe channel after MSR, but it's natural, isn't it? You look at Wiggins/Froome/Thomas coming out either from nowhere or another discipline to win the TdF and project that onto Alaphilippe -- who even hinted recently that he'd like to win the TdF someday.

To be honest, he'd probably have to switch teams as DQS is geared toward one-day races. Maybe in 2020 let him ride for GC and see what happens...
 
Re:

can3478 said:
What a start to 2019 season, 7 wins!

Stage 5 at Tour of Colombia
DzmCpc4WsAEI_ir.jpg


Strade Bianche
D1TrTb8XQAMcDdg.jpg


Milan - San Remo
“I came with the goal of winning this race. I’m just as proud of my win as I am of the work of my team today. What they’ve done for me is absolutely exceptional. I rode for the victory at the end bearing their dedication in mind. I recovered in the downhill after I sped up on the Poggio but I still thought it would be complicated to win considering the quality of the riders... I capped it off the nicest way I could. It’s pure joy”
D2XWAKmXQAAFLhn.jpg

Nice mini gallery! Thanks for posting it.
 
Re: Re:

Bolder said:
Alexandre B. said:
Unsurprisingly, despite having the best one-day racer in the world for the first time in gazillion years, Parisian medias are all babbling about an elusive Tour win.

They were definitely talking about it on L'Equipe channel after MSR, but it's natural, isn't it? You look at Wiggins/Froome/Thomas coming out either from nowhere or another discipline to win the TdF and project that onto Alaphilippe -- who even hinted recently that he'd like to win the TdF someday.

To be honest, he'd probably have to switch teams as DQS is geared toward one-day races. Maybe in 2020 let him ride for GC and see what happens...
Gee, why weren't they talking about a TdF victory when Alaphilippe was getting torn to shreds on "his terrain" in Tirreno Adriatico
 
Mar 19, 2017
281
3
2,035
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
Bolder said:
Alexandre B. said:
Unsurprisingly, despite having the best one-day racer in the world for the first time in gazillion years, Parisian medias are all babbling about an elusive Tour win.

They were definitely talking about it on L'Equipe channel after MSR, but it's natural, isn't it? You look at Wiggins/Froome/Thomas coming out either from nowhere or another discipline to win the TdF and project that onto Alaphilippe -- who even hinted recently that he'd like to win the TdF someday.

To be honest, he'd probably have to switch teams as DQS is geared toward one-day races. Maybe in 2020 let him ride for GC and see what happens...
Gee, why weren't they talking about a TdF victory when Alaphilippe was getting torn to shreds on "his terrain" in Tirreno Adriatico

In pre-season interview, he said he was targeting races in March. So maybe he was working too much on sprinting skill mean while losing his other skill.
 
Re: Re:

can3478 said:
Red Rick said:
Bolder said:
Alexandre B. said:
Unsurprisingly, despite having the best one-day racer in the world for the first time in gazillion years, Parisian medias are all babbling about an elusive Tour win.

They were definitely talking about it on L'Equipe channel after MSR, but it's natural, isn't it? You look at Wiggins/Froome/Thomas coming out either from nowhere or another discipline to win the TdF and project that onto Alaphilippe -- who even hinted recently that he'd like to win the TdF someday.

To be honest, he'd probably have to switch teams as DQS is geared toward one-day races. Maybe in 2020 let him ride for GC and see what happens...
Gee, why weren't they talking about a TdF victory when Alaphilippe was getting torn to shreds on "his terrain" in Tirreno Adriatico

In pre-season interview, he said he was targeting races in March. So maybe he was working too much on sprinting skill mean while losing his other skill.
Probably.

Perhaps it's because those stages were stage 4 and 5 in a stage race.

Whatever it is, there's no way Alaphilipp has enough room to improve his climbing to top 5 in a GT.
 
Re:

IndianCyclist said:
He is a class act but whether he can keep his form till LBL remains to be seen. Last year worlds he was on fumes. For targeting worlds/Lombardia he has to forgo the TDF, maybe target the Giro, do Vuelta as training.

If you argue he's on fumes it would be because last year he rode Slovakia and Britain before the worlds. The reason he lost was because of the final climb being too hard for him.

He won't not ride the TDF this year, he's going to secure so much media attention for himself and the team, and i still think he can win the WC by riding the TDF.