Teams & Riders Julian Alaphilippe Discussion Thread

[Brullnux]

Re:

Slightly overated he's not at the level of Bala in GT's nor yet in major classics only thing he's as good is sprint. To me he to limited in high mountains to win a gt, he will win a few fleche and liege but thats it, milan remo not hard enough, lombardie to hard.

Of course he isn't as good. He is 23. But he has the talent to be as good, and better. If he has better tactics than Valverde he will be a great.

And we share a birthday. So this makes him automatically great, no questions asked. However, Shia Lebeouf also shares it. But so does Hugh Laurie, so it evens out.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Slightly overated he's not at the level of Bala in GT's nor yet in major classics only thing he's as good is sprint. To me he to limited in high mountains to win a gt, he will win a few fleche and liege but thats it, milan remo not hard enough, lombardie to hard.

Can we at least let him ride a GT?

 

[Tonton]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

So young, and so good. At his age, what a record/palmares! Yes, he's like a young Valverde. How far will he go? Let's not get carried away, but let's not low-ball either. He has the makings of a multiple-monument winner, with GT potential as well. A complete rider. Gotta like him.

 

[portugal11]

He is the new jalabert!!! What a fantastic rider, i want to see him against froome and contador in real mountains.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

What an odd season he had last year: brilliant in California and the Ardennes, and then sank like a stone as soon as Romandie and the Dauphiné headed uphill. This year so far has been a carbon copy of last year; can he finally make it stick in a big European stage race? In any event, I hope he does end up following in the mold of Valverde and Jalabert. We always need more of those (minus certain shenanigans).

 

[Akuryo]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

What an odd season he had last year: brilliant in California and the Ardennes, and then sank like a stone as soon as Romandie and the Dauphiné headed uphill. This year so far has been a carbon copy of last year; can he finally make it stick in a big European stage race? In any event, I hope he does end up following in the mold of Valverde and Jalabert. We always need more of those (minus certain shenanigans).

To be fair, he had Mono last year. It was diagnosed in the fall but maybe his lack of form during summer was also because of that? I'm not sure but it could be an explanation.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

What an odd season he had last year: brilliant in California and the Ardennes, and then sank like a stone as soon as Romandie and the Dauphiné headed uphill. This year so far has been a carbon copy of last year; can he finally make it stick in a big European stage race? In any event, I hope he does end up following in the mold of Valverde and Jalabert. We always need more of those (minus certain shenanigans).

To be fair, he had Mono last year. It was diagnosed in the fall but maybe his lack of form during summer was also because of that? I'm not sure but it could be an explanation.

He was good in Eneco Tour though.

 

[robin440]

Well i knew that he can sprint a little, he won a few races from reduced bunches as a junior. But yesterday that was just impressive, nearly beating eddy and Bouhanni. If the finish would have been 50 meters further back, he would have won. Amazing rider, like him even more now, he can do everything: tt, sprints, climbs

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Of course he isn't as good. He is 23. But he has the talent to be as good, and better. If he has better tactics than Valverde he will be a great.

Lol Valverde was 3rd in the Vuelta and 2nd at the WC when he was 23 years old.
He's always been a massive talent, and much more promising than Alaphilippe at same age.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Of course he isn't as good. He is 23. But he has the talent to be as good, and better. If he has better tactics than Valverde he will be a great.

Lol Valverde was 3rd in the Vuelta and 2nd at the WC when he was 23 years old.
He's always been a massive talent, and much more promising than Alaphilippe at same age.

Comparing anyone with Valverde is ridiculous. Valverde could climb with the best, win reduced bunch sprints and tt really well before he turned 25.

Alaphllippe definitely isn't in the same category as Valverde even though he is a great talent and quite similar in terms of rider characteristics. Valverde was a unique talent.

 

[portugal11]

Loool, alaphillipe still didn't have a chance in wc... At 22 he had a second place at liege. We don't know how capable he is in gt's.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Decent performance today, in an elite field. White jersey will be hard to keep.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

So young, and so good. At his age, what a record/palmares! Yes, he's like a young Valverde. How far will he go? Let's not get carried away, but let's not low-ball either. He has the makings of a multiple-monument winner, with GT potential as well. A complete rider. Gotta like him.

He's got a long way to go before we can consider him a dangerous element in GTs for the GC. He is yet to show anything in the high mountains. Atm, I'd say he's on track to turn into an improved version of Dan Martin who can sprint rather than Valverde

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Of course he isn't as good. He is 23. But he has the talent to be as good, and better. If he has better tactics than Valverde he will be a great.

Lol Valverde was 3rd in the Vuelta and 2nd at the WC when he was 23 years old.
He's always been a massive talent, and much more promising than Alaphilippe at same age.

Valverde's first decent Ardennes classic result was in 2006, when he was 26, albeit he won the double that year. Yeah he was a (much) bigger GC threat at the same age but in classics if you ignore the slightly unnerving amount of WCs he has done well in Alaphillipe has come 2nd and 2nd in Liege and Fleche when he was 22, and 2nd again this year at Fleche. He has also been fairly unlucky with illnesses. But he has the talent finish with a better palmares in classics IMO. Not GTs, but in classics. Heck, Valverde had more than enough talent to finish with a better palmares than he has now.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Of course he isn't as good. He is 23. But he has the talent to be as good, and better. If he has better tactics than Valverde he will be a great.

Lol Valverde was 3rd in the Vuelta and 2nd at the WC when he was 23 years old.
He's always been a massive talent, and much more promising than Alaphilippe at same age.

Valverde's first decent Ardennes classic result was in 2006, when he was 26, albeit he won the double that year. Yeah he was a (much) bigger GC threat at the same age but in classics if you ignore the slightly unnerving amount of WCs he has done well in Alaphillipe has come 2nd and 2nd in Liege and Fleche when he was 22, and 2nd again this year at Fleche. He has also been fairly unlucky with illnesses. But he has the talent finish with a better palmares in classics IMO. Not GTs, but in classics. Heck, Valverde had more than enough talent to finish with a better palmares than he has now.

Valverde really turned his focus to Ardennes in that very 2006. Before that, GT's were everything for him. Only one-day race which was important to him was WC, and he had an instant success, which implies he could do well in other one-day races, but simply there was no much interest from him.
Back on Alaphilippe topic, kid is certainly talented, and somehow reminds of Valverde a bit. He has speed, he has endurance, he climbs well. He could certainly become leading hilly classics rider in the coming years. As for GT's concerns, I don't have much faith in him. He could prove me wrong though...

 

[yaco]

My major interest in the last 2 days is to see how well Alaphilippe climbs - Want to compare his performance to Jungels in the Giro.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

What an odd season he had last year: brilliant in California and the Ardennes, and then sank like a stone as soon as Romandie and the Dauphiné headed uphill. This year so far has been a carbon copy of last year; can he finally make it stick in a big European stage race? In any event, I hope he does end up following in the mold of Valverde and Jalabert. We always need more of those (minus certain shenanigans).

To be fair, he had Mono last year. It was diagnosed in the fall but maybe his lack of form during summer was also because of that? I'm not sure but it could be an explanation.

I've wondered that too. How early were the symptoms showing up? In any event, I'm glad it's in the past.

 

[Brullnux]

Happy Birthday to him, let's see how well he can do on it and if he can keep his top 10 on the first proper mountain test. He should.

 

[DBotero]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Looking really impressive.Another step closer on the road to follow Valverde's success.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Looking really impressive.Another step closer on the road to follow Valverde's success.

He is probably never gonna be so good and so consistent of a climber that Valverde is/was in GT's, but he may be more explosive than him and probably gonna win a few more classics. What impressed me the most was his burst of speed on the stage Hagen won.

 

[DBotero]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Looking really impressive.Another step closer on the road to follow Valverde's success.

He is probably never gonna be so good and so consistent of a climber that Valverde is/was in GT's, but he may be more explosive than him and probably gonna win a few more classics. What impressed me the most was his burst of speed on the stage Hagen won.

Nobody can be better than the Great Alejandro but we need someone to follow on his footsteps and certainly Alaphilippe has the required qualities.Still a lot of work to do for him.

 

[yaco]

It's outrageous that Alaphalippe can climb and sprint so well.

She be a good battle with A.Yates for the young riders classification.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

He's the real deal.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

He's the real deal.

Yeah, it's good to get confirmation that he can climb near the front in a top European stage race. I still suspect that Yates will manage to shave off those six seconds tomorrow, but finishing in the top ten will already be a victory of sorts. (Alternately: if he wins the stage and the time bonus he'll pick up the green jersey.)

 

[DBotero]

Re: Julian Alaphilippe

Good Dauphine for him and a 6th place in the final GC.