Julian Alaphilippe

[roundabout]

I genuinely didn't find his TT that suspicious. It was very good but the field was really weak and he pulled of pretty incredible TT's before. I'd argue yesterdays performance wasn't much more impressive than this from Paris Nice a couple years back.(Contador was always extremely good at uphill time trials and he beat him by 19 seconds)

However I absolutely agree this climbing performance is very hard to believe. I mean I guess the way the climb was raced benefited him a lot but still this is just so much better than anything else he has ever shown on a comparable climb. I don't know it just seems too good.

How do you know that the field was really weak?

Riders in recent excellent TT form like Asgreen and van Aert were not even close to challenging for the win.

 

[brownbobby]

I genuinely didn't find his TT that suspicious. It was very good but the field was really weak and he pulled of pretty incredible TT's before. I'd argue yesterdays performance wasn't much more impressive than this from Paris Nice a couple years back.(Contador was always extremely good at uphill time trials and he beat him by 19 seconds)

However I absolutely agree this climbing performance is very hard to believe. I mean I guess the way the climb was raced benefited him a lot but still this is just so much better than anything else he has ever shown on a comparable climb. I don't know it just seems too good.

When you say the way it was raced benefitted him...how so?

Just the calibre of riders being dropped all the way up and with no one capable of attacking until the very end suggested to me it was being raced super hard...

 

[DanielSong39]

The ITT power curve actually looks pretty normal, if you scratched "Julian Alaphilippe" and replaced it with "Rohan Dennis" no one would think anything was up.

None of Alaphilippe's performances light up like a Christmas tree when viewed in isolation (well maybe except for the ITT), it's the combination that raises the most eyebrows.

 

[hfer07]

Re: Re:

I'm going to phrase it this way:
FOR NOW - Alaphilippe is pulling a Voeckler despite what took place today in the Tourmalet ......because apart from his outrighteous ITT win, He's done what is within his capabilities - YET
IF he manages to keep yellow in the 1st stage in the Alps next week, in the same fashion he did today- THEN I must say he's got a good program going on aside from the "normal doping" practices in Pro Cycling

Within his capabilities??

On a HC climb, with only a few exceptions everyone of the best climbers and GC specialists in the world were being shelled out of the back. JA was riding along making it look easy until the last few k when someone had a word in his ear to tell him to start pulling a few faces to make it look at least like he was suffering....all of this the day after he pulled off the TT of his life...

Since when was that within his capabilities

I'm not stating there is anything wrong in your post - but Voeckler pulled the same thing against the likes of Evans, Contador, the Schleck brothers, etc - same is happening with Alaphilippe, which is a far superior and complete rider than Voecker. And yes- the ITT was a WOW moment- and yes- I was thinking he could have won today's stage too while laughing :lol: but then again: There is NO dominant team, there is NO dominant GC leader the likes of Froome or Dumoulin to create savage attacks, so within that context is where I'd state Alaphilippe is "able" to ride with the current field "within his skills & capabilities". All will be clear tomorrow

 

[luckyboy]

This will be quite demoralising. Especially with so many looking at it with no cynicism at all. That is the most unbelievable part, really.

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Re: Re:

Uphill bunch sprint - check
Murito uphill sprint - check
35 minute itt - check
Mountain goat - check

Being in top form from January until July - check

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Alaphilippe could win every mountain stage left and he would still be the most credible winner of the last decade.

Saying things like 'it can't get any more obvious' is ludicrous when you think back to things like Froome in 2013 or even Thomas last year.

:lol:

You are in full denial

In denial about what? Alaphilippe being highly suspicious? Certainly not.

Alaphilippe being more suspicious than any of the Tour winners of the last decade. Yes.

 

[zlev11]

Re:

This will be quite demoralising. Especially with so many looking at it with no cynicism at all. That is the most unbelievable part, really.

lol, how is it any more demoralizing than the past 7 years? at least this guy showed he was a super talent at a very young age.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

This will be quite demoralising. Especially with so many looking at it with no cynicism at all. That is the most unbelievable part, really.

lol, how is it any more demoralizing than the past 7 years? at least this guy showed he was a super talent at a very young age.

Indeed. If donkeys like Wiggins, Froome and Dumoulin can transform to win both TTs and in high mountains, then a rider as talented as Alaphilippe certainly can.

 

[Saint Unix]

Anyone remember the last Flèche Wallonne winner who showed up at the Tour at 27 years of age and started unexpectedly pounding everyone on both the TTs and in the mountains?

What was that guy's name again?

 

[Fergoose]

The fact he put in such individual efforts in the first week (e.g. sprint leadout) already had my suspicions raised and puts the past 48hrs into the Froome/Cobo levels of the 2011 Vuelta (where Froome expended so much energy as a domestique, you just can't have excess energy for day after day). I'm surprised it took until the ITT for this thread to be created.

I am convinced he was sandbagging in the last km today (and deliberately feigning weakness by hanging back out of camera view for much of the climb), he'd shaken his legs ready for the sprint at 2k but didn't pull the pin and I'd love to know what was said on the radio. Yesterdays ITT had the explosiveness of a Rasmussen or Ricco and it took him at least 20 seconds after crossing the line, sliding and embracing to remember to sit down at the side. I think there is a good chance he'll withdraw at the next rest day once some tests have been processed. It's a tragedy for France given how the credible Pinot is in the form of his life and genuinely back in contention.

Even his teammate says his performance today was "hard to believe", and I'm only very slightly taking that out of context.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-2019-stage-14-finish-line-quotes/

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

Anyone remember the last Flèche Wallonne winner who showed up at the Tour at 27 years of age and started unexpectedly pounding everyone on both the TTs and in the mountains?

What was that guy's name again?

I think he was a top-notch talent, though he was mostly known as a 1-day classics rider. Won the World Championship Road Race and had success in 1-week stage races too. More of a puncheur than a pure climber and was good but no world-beater in the time trials.

 

[Saint Unix]

Re: Re:

I think he was a top-notch talent, though he was mostly known as a 1-day classics rider. Won the World Championship Road Race and had success in 1-week stage races too. More of a puncheur than a pure climber and was good but no world-beater in the time trials.

Might even have won a couple of stages in previous editions of the race, just like Alaphilippe. Sure does sound awfully familiar, but for the life of me I just can't quite put my finger on who it is, exactly.

 

[Nacho]

Oh My! Drugs ought be oozing out of Alaphilippe's sweat glands. I hope no other riders on his team touch his clothes(sweat) after he rides, and then have to undergo drug testing. Getting #2 on this Tour, after #1 Alaphilippe, will probably be just as good as winning. It might take a year or so though to get awarded the prize, IF France has enough cogones to go after one of their own,

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

Oh My! Drugs ought be oozing out of Alaphilippe's sweat glands. I hope no other riders on his team touch his clothes(sweat) after he rides, and then have to undergo drug testing. Getting #2 on this Tour, after #1 Alaphilippe, will probably be just as good as winning. It might take a year or so though to get awarded the prize, IF France has enough cogones to go after one of their own,

They might if Pinot finishes second, let's see what happens!

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Guess we can forget about them clean frenchies now. Alienphilippe is as shady as a colombian brothel and up there with Froome in farcial levels.

Remember when puncheurs was considered just puncheurs and not sprinters/goats/diesels/ITT-kings in a ready to go package for July? Good times

 

[Nacho]

Re: Re:

Oh My! Drugs ought be oozing out of Alaphilippe's sweat glands. I hope no other riders on his team touch his clothes(sweat) after he rides, and then have to undergo drug testing. Getting #2 on this Tour, after #1 Alaphilippe, will probably be just as good as winning. It might take a year or so though to get awarded the prize, IF France has enough cogones to go after one of their own,

They might if Pinot finishes second, let's see what happens!

I doubt though the authorities, and journalists, would investigate very much and deny all of fans of France finally having a home-grown winner. It's been a long time.

 

[burning]

Re:

I have not been following cycling this year, but this is batshit insane, just a tier below Froome, lol.

Anyone remember the last Flèche Wallonne winner who showed up at the Tour at 27 years of age and started unexpectedly pounding everyone on both the TTs and in the mountains?

What was that guy's name again?

Holy hell, this is too good, well played on noticing the similarity.

 

[luckyboy]

Re: Re:

This will be quite demoralising. Especially with so many looking at it with no cynicism at all. That is the most unbelievable part, really.

lol, how is it any more demoralizing than the past 7 years? at least this guy showed he was a super talent at a very young age.

Everybody has gotten used to that, even if it is still ridiculous.

Now Froome is out and Thomas isn't at his best. But instead of some natural - at least 'plausible' - GC winner like Pinot/Kruijswijk we have another freak with ridiculous rides to take their place.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Alaphilippe reminds me a bit of Michael Rasmussen 2007. Rasmussen was a former winner of the king of the mountains jersey, just like Alaphilippe, and many doubted he could remain strong in the mountains, until he took an astounding stage win in yellow. He would obviously have won the GC that year, had he not been pulled out. In those years, many strange things were going on, many doping cases. We don't see that as much nowadays - for some reason -, and I doubt the Frenchman will get into trouble.

As we know, Rasmussen was doped massively. He was not a top rider in the same way as Alaphilippe, but on the other hand, nobody realistically pedicted the Frenchman as a contender for the podium.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Only difference was that Rasmussen was always a formidable climber and nobody doubted whether he could hang in the mountains. His TT skills is what people doubted, considering it cost him a podium place a couple of years previously in one of the most spectacular single day blowups ever.

 

[markene2]

Love it, great watching british fans seethe as he dethrones the Ineos empire

 

[Danskebjerge]

Re:

Only difference was that Rasmussen was always a formidable climber and nobody doubted whether he could hang in the mountains. His TT skills is what people doubted, considering it cost him a podium place a couple of years previously in one of the most spectacular single day blowups ever.

Going in to the Tour 2017, he had actually only won six road races, most of them wins in stage races. I'm not sure his TT's were so bad, but the one where he lost the podium place was marred with errors.

 

[DanielSong39]

Poll results are becoming more and more skewed towards the bottom with each passing day, LOL.

If he pulls it off he will be a very popular and beloved champion.

Hold on to your hats guys, we could be seeing history in the making.

 

[Koronin]

I want to know what program he's on because today is NOT in his abilities. He's shown time and again what he did today is not possible without major doping help of one kind or another.