Teams & Riders Julian Alaphilippe Discussion Thread

[Bolder]

Re: Re:

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.

I mostly agree with that thought, although as has been noted, the template for a GT winner is a lot broader than we think it is. Whatever you think of LA, he went from a one-day World Champion to 7 time tour something or other, Wiggins went from trackie to winner, Thomas went from one-day contender to winner. Given that JA has shown pretty good tactical sense, has a reasonably light physique, is good on short punchy climbs and can ride 300k with minimal energy loss, I think it's within the realm of possibility. Just not on DQS.

 

[yaco]

Reckon he will be on the radar of the Tour Down Under if Sagan doesn't return - He always races in January and he could just about win the GC.

 

[Akuryo]

So, this is 6 races in a row where he has taken at least a stage. 4x in stage races and he won both one day races he entered in 2019. From the end of January till mid April he found at least one day to beat everyone else. That is some scary streak.

 

[Blanco]

Unbelievable form, currently No.1 in the peloton, no doubt. I wonder how long this is going to last though...

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Unbelievable form, currently No.1 in the peloton, no doubt. I wonder how long this is going to last though...

He is indeed in the form of his life. Only 26, so he has time on his side to win a lot more in the years to come if he can be consistent and reach peaks of form like he has now. If he keep stacking up the wins in these big races he will turn into one of the greatest riders of his generation. Who knows, but for over a year now he has been pretty consistent.

 

[OlavEH]

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

For modern references, Phil Gil won the triple in 2011 including Brabantse Pijl, Strade Bianche, 3rd in MSR, 9th in Flanders and a stage in TA. That would also be close to such a season, altho MSR means a lot and Julian also has more stage wins (he will probably win at least one more stage in Pais Vasco).

But it was pretty much expected that his major breakthrough would come sooner rather than lather tbh. He is just that talented, it's obvious.

 

[Bardamu]

The only guy that can stop him is Mathieu in Amstel.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

I would say that classic would need to be Liege.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

“Perhaps” one or two season of Kelly? In 84 and 86, Kelly won the gc in P-N, Catalunya, and Itzulia as well as 2 monuments each time (plus 2nd in Flanders both times, and 2nd in MSR in 86). Alaf has a long way to go to get there.

Argentin won an Ardennes double, but in a separate year won Flèche and Flanders.

In 95 Jalabert won MSR, P-N, Catalunya, Criterium International and Flèche.

If you count back to Merckx’s time, since Merckx’s llast MSR win in 76, 6 riders have won 2 monuments in the same Spring on 9 different occasions (Kelly, Boonen and Cancellara each did it twice). Merckx being the eternal outlier, he did it 5 times, including winning 3 of them twice.

 

[OlavEH]

Re: Re:

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

“Perhaps” one or two season of Kelly? In 84 and 86, Kelly won the gc in P-N, Catalunya, and Itzulia as well as 2 monuments each time (plus 2nd in Flanders both times, and 2nd in MSR in 86). Alaf has a long way to go to get there.

Argentin won an Ardennes double, but in a separate year won Flèche and Flanders.

In 95 Jalabert won MSR, P-N, Catalunya, Criterium International and Flèche.

Two seasons of Kelly then. Both 84 and 85 were pretty sensational.

Argentin comes nothing close to winning MSR, LBL, Strade Bianche and either FW or AGR in one spring season, which was the premise for my argument. That is better than Argentin, Jalabert, Boonen, Cancellara or Gilbert ever has done in one single spring season.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

If he wins at least one of the 3 Ardennes classics, he would have had one of the best spring seasons in modern cycling, that is the last 30 years. If he wins two, including LBL, I would rate his spring season only behind Eddy Mercx in 69 and 75 and perhaps one or two season of Sean Kelly.

“Perhaps” one or two season of Kelly? In 84 and 86, Kelly won the gc in P-N, Catalunya, and Itzulia as well as 2 monuments each time (plus 2nd in Flanders both times, and 2nd in MSR in 86). Alaf has a long way to go to get there.

Argentin won an Ardennes double, but in a separate year won Flèche and Flanders.

In 95 Jalabert won MSR, P-N, Catalunya, Criterium International and Flèche.

Two seasons of Kelly then. Both 84 and 85 were pretty sensational.

Argentin comes nothing close to winning MSR, LBL, Strade Bianche and either FW or AGR in one spring season, which was the presumption for my argument. That is better than Argentin, Jalabert, Boonen, Cancellara or Gilbert ever has done in one single spring season.

Flanders, Roubaix, Gent-Wevelgem, E3. That's up there.

 

[Blanco]

Valverde won Liege, Fleche, Pais Vasco, Catalunya and Andalucia, total of 11 victories in 2017, 8 WT. That's a pretty good spring season too...

 

[Blanco]

Re:

The only guy that can stop him is Mathieu in Amstel.

And maybe one old guy in Southern Belgium..

 

[tobydawq]

Oh no.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well he finished. Might still be ok

 

[shalgo]

That 1984 spring by Sean Kelly was absolutely insane:

1st overall and 2 stage wins in Paris-Nice
2nd at MSR
1st overall and winning all 3 stages in Criterium International
2nd in the Ronde
1st overall and 3 stage wins in Pais Vasco
1st at Paris-Roubaix
1st at LBL

 

[tobydawq]

"It's the first time in my career that I crash at high speed."

This is his 6th year as a pro. That seems highly unusual.

 

[Akuryo]

Re:

"It's the first time in my career that I crash at high speed."

This is his 6th year as a pro. That seems highly unusual.

Now what does he consider "high speed", cause he did crash at the Olympic Road Race and also at Itzulia two years ago...

 

[Tim Booth]

Re:

Well he finished. Might still be ok

DNS today

 

[liamito]

Re: Re:

Well he finished. Might still be ok

DNS today

He also deleted his "all ok" instagram post.

 

[Robert5091]

Sounds a sensible decision - there's a lot more racing to come this year.

 

[Flamin]

https://www.hln.be/sport/wielrennen...urieus-op-uitspraken-van-den-broeck~a4823e34/

Ala might ride Brabantse Pijl.

Him vs MVDP best field ever there.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

https://www.hln.be/sport/wielrennen...urieus-op-uitspraken-van-den-broeck~a4823e34/

Ala might ride Brabantse Pijl.

Him vs MVDP best field ever there.

Yeah, and with Bettiol, Colbrelli, Wellens present as well. Truly remarkable field.

 

[jmdirt]

This guy is having one H of a spring! Congrats young man!