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Teams & Riders Julian Alaphilippe Discussion Thread

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I'm applying for this thread title to be changed to "The Amazing Alaphilippe".
For the past two years he has practically lightened up every race he entered. Either he's on stunning form and cruises to success or he fails, but even than it's close to spectacular, for whatever reasons. He always gives his all. I know they all say they do, but Alaphilippe obviously does, even when as a spectator you have no clue what it's for, when there is no direct reward to be gained. One might hold that against him, regard it as an unnecessary show, but he just makes a race a race.
Totally agree. He' an amazing racer. I'm excited to see how he will try to sneak the overall GC in Provence today.
 
No matter how good legs he has, he’s a clown.

a clown for the way he lost Liege? ok, that was a facepalm moment.
yesterday he did his career best power effort for 30 minutes

I wasnt a fan. but I am not against him anymore. (the way he drives Antoine Vayer mad is just priceless. the way Vayer is obsessed by him and Marion Rousse is worth cheering for Alaph ahah)
 
It is a great debate. I think WvA could match Alaf for all around talent, although I'm pretty sure he would have been dropped on Ventoux going up against Alaf.
On the other hand, WvA and VdP are better pure sprinters. On the other, other hand, JA is an animator, whether or not he has the form.

But if you had to pick one rider for every type of race, I think JA is the best all-arounder right now.

I tend to watch cycling in the moment rather than with a historical eye, but having JA, the 2 CX guys, Pogacar and Remco in top form feels like we're truly blessed. And we 've still got Sagan and the older generation of GT riders still hanging on.

I did leave out Roglic on purpose. TBH I've cooled a bit on him only because the five riders I mentioned above are really exciting to watch as well as talented. But maybe Roglic has an epic ride in him this year and I'll throw him in the bag...
 
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I think van Aert is comparable, an amazing allrounder, can sprint, time trial and also climb well, plus has the technique. I don't know about his limits, yet, but I feel that I don't know Ala's either. The Ventoux-performance was really astounding, climbing better than Ciccone, Mollema, Vlasov. But I don't know the numbers and where the others are in their preparation. I suppose Alaphilippe, with his focus on the spring, is further ahead. Anyway, it made me think that maybe I am wrong in repeating that he's a one-day-racer.
If Wout and Julian meet in a race and there's a poggio before the finish, Ala will always get away from van Aert, but what really makes the difference between them - so far I would still say van Aert has slightly more pure talent - is simply the way Alaphilippe races, the attitude and nature of his racing. It's different from everybody else in the peloton right now.

I am excited to see some head to heads this season. As a GT winner and almost Tour winner, Roglic cannot be rated behind Ala in terms of quality. Also, with his time trialing, his climbing, his punchiness he cannot be called a one-trick-pony. He's just a much more boring rider in my eyes.

Van der Poel has his niche as a threesome-cyclist and amazing qualities, but since I don't see him climbing with the very best (yet), for me he's behind van Aert and Alaphilippe as a road cyclist.

Pogacar is :openmouth: :openmouth:. Let's see what he will do this year.

And Evenepoel, if he comes back to his level before the crash, even improves, is clearly above Alaphilippe, not so much for his allrounding, more for the pure incredible pull.
 
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It is a great debate. I think WvA could match Alaf for all around talent, although I'm pretty sure he would have been dropped on Ventoux going up against Alaf.
On the other hand, WvA and VdP are better pure sprinters. On the other, other hand, JA is an animator, whether or not he has the form.

But if you had to pick one rider for every type of race, I think JA is the best all-arounder right now.

I tend to watch cycling in the moment rather than with a historical eye, but having JA, the 2 CX guys, Pogacar and Remco in top form feels like we're truly blessed. And we 've still got Sagan and the older generation of GT riders still hanging on.

I did leave out Roglic on purpose. TBH I've cooled a bit on him only because the five riders I mentioned above are really exciting to watch as well as talented. But maybe Roglic has an epic ride in him this year and I'll throw him in the bag...
did Sagan just retire? If not how is he not in this discussion? 1 bad season (for him) and he's done?
 
did Sagan just retire? If not how is he not in this discussion? 1 bad season (for him) and he's done?

I have listed Sagan with the previous "generation" despite his age. I saw only one performance last year -- at the Giro -- to match his mid-2010s level. The other riders I listed had great years in 2020, in some cases both before and after lockdowns.

Sagan at, say, Richmond level was unbeatable. Sagan 2020 looked distinctly beatable. I'm happy to be proven wrong, the more riders with flair and the talent to back it up, the better. (Edit: It's true, he's not a climber, but he's done pretty well on courses like Bergen where you'd think he might not have been able to survive)
 
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I have listed Sagan with the previous "generation" despite his age. I saw only one performance last year -- at the Giro -- to match his mid-2010s level. The other riders I listed had great years in 2020, in some cases both before and after lockdowns.

Sagan at, say, Richmond level was unbeatable. Sagan 2020 looked distinctly beatable. I'm happy to be proven wrong, the more riders with flair and the talent to back it up, the better. (Edit: It's true, he's not a climber, but he's done pretty well on courses like Bergen where you'd think he might not have been able to survive)

Bergen is the surprising hilly performance you can come up with for Sagan? Kristoff and Gaviria were in that group...

I'll try with Grindelwald 2011, Mur de Peguere 2012, Porto Sant'Elpidio 2013, Meiringen 2013, Mount Baldy 2015, Gap 2015, Fermo 2017 and then Tortoreto 2020.
 

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