Quebec (AFP)

"Relaxed and without any pressure", Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck) assured Wednesday that the World Championship on the roads of Yorkshire, from September 22 to 29, would be "only the bonus", at a press conference at two days of the Grand Prix de Québec.

"This is my state of mind right now: relaxed and without any pressure despite what we can imagine with the World Cup coming soon," tempered the French world number one, whose coach Thomas Voeckler has made the "only real chance to be crowned world champion" for the France team.

"It's just a bonus even though of course I'm always drawn to victory: I'm running and I'm getting ready to win," said the punter who thought of cutting his season this summer, "like Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet ", in trouble" decompression "post-Tour de France after 14 days in yellow, two stage wins and three weeks of an Alaphilippe whirlwind.

"It was not easy to start again after the Tour but what really motivated me was to have the World Championship in my head and the Tour of Lombardy, these are my big two. the latest goals of the year but it will really be a bonus, "said the Frenchman who is" eager to see where (he) is "on both Canadian races: the Grand Prix of Quebec Friday and Montreal Sunday.

A tandem that seems to be a better preparation for the World Championships than a year ago: "Last year, I did the series Tour of Great Britain and Tour of Slovakia. memories but it was perhaps not the best option for the World Cup, "said Alaphilippe, released in the last climb of the Innsbruck circuit and finally 8th.

"Make mistakes, it's not serious, what's serious is to reproduce them, there I will have a different approach, it may not change everything but I will have done the maximum", he added.

"It will not be a disaster if I miss it, I just had the best season of my career so far, which will remain perhaps the most beautiful: I won all I wanted, I realized all the goals I had set for myself, "recalls" Alaf "who has collected 12 victories this season, including the" monument "Milan-Sanremo.

© 2019 AFP