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Teams & Riders Julian Alaphilippe Discussion Thread

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I have been away all day but thought I needed to drop in and say that this was the most impressive puncheur finish I have ever seen. And in the rainbow jersey, no less. God, I hope he tries to hang on for GC again.

Allez, Julian!
It was impressive but surely the WC win was even more impressive, that acceleration in the last uphill at the WC was on another level than this one.
 
It was impressive but surely the WC win was even more impressive, that acceleration in the last uphill at the WC was on another level than this one.
The WC was an "all to play for" finish and ranks up there with his 2019 attack with Tibot Pinot at the end of a very long day. They didn't quite catch the solo winner, though.
Today he and his team worked to perfection. To be fair to some of the GC guys who had injured teammates or had to come of the deck: their concerns were more to claim bonus seconds over people behind them, not JA and the tactics showed that. MVP was the big loser today and he hammered to the end.
 
Yesterday he had to attack on the first half of the climb, because after that it wasn't steep anymore. To hold on till the finish was impressive, although the lack of cooperation between the two Slovenians helped him. On this type of finishes he's been the strongest for a few years now.

Today should suit him even better, because it's steeper. If some GC guys can stay with him, he should beat them in the sprint.
 
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How do we feel about his GC chances now? A great TT and hurting climbers could get him to Ventoux in the mix..

Very good, if people have the stomach for a "this guy is now in with a chance at a podium due to crashes" sort of racing.

That's until something sh*t happens to Alaphilippe of course, i.e. there are still loads of sprints finishes (& downhill finishes) in the Tour. May the last man standing win.
 
Very good, if people have the stomach for a "this guy is now in with a chance at a podium due to crashes" sort of racing.

That's until something sh*t happens to Alaphilippe of course, i.e. there are still loads of sprints finishes (& downhill finishes) in the Tour. May the last man standing win.

Kelderman?
And of course I'm still hoping for Pierre Latour to win la Tour.
 
I'm starting to think that he doesn't like rainy days, he wasn't really good in both 2016 and 2019 Lieges and also in 2019 Worlds and with the rain and hectic racing combo he cracked badly like today in Castelfidardo at the Tirreno.

I think it's quite clear by now he doesn't like the rain and cold, it's not as bad as for Valverde for him, but he clearly suffers. Taking that into account yesterday was not a bad performance by him.
 
Yeah, he was in great form, but I think things started to go wrong on Stage 7, which I thought he was targeting, even though he finished with the main group, he seemed flat. He generally does not do well in bad weather, yesterday he was not good and he just parked it today after he dropped from the second break group.

To be fair, a lot of very good riders are looking very lost right now in the Tour.
 
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Looking ahead, he has to be targeting stage 14, and maybe 15 and 16 if he can get into a break with the right composition. He could go up the road to defend Cav’s green (because Bling and Colbrelli will be trying to get in there too) and end up ahead of some sprinters (he’s currently 5th on 99, and Matthew’s is in 2nd with 130).
 

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