Montreal (AFP)

Two hundred meters: that was all he missed at Julian Alaphilippe in Quebec City and then in Montreal two days later to win one of the two Canadian races he had done a "good test" two weeks before the Championships. world in Yorkshire (29 September).

"The sensations come back well," assured the puncher who had posted his goal before the Canadian tandem: "have fun and be there in the final". Goal reached for the world No.1 who could play the win in Quebec with a better agreement between Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Diego Ulissi. And even win the Montreal Grand Prix Sunday without the sacrifice of the triple Slovak world champion in the hunting group that swallowed Alaphilippe just before the line.

"I plugged the hole on my own," said Sagan on Instagram, "that effort cost me and I did not have enough energy in my legs to compete in the sprint."

Beyond the gross result, an 8th place finish in Quebec City and a 13th place finish in Montreal, the Frenchman has each time been close to winning - close to 200m - thanks to a sharp attack in the last few kilometers.

The spring Alaphilippe would probably not have made a district on the shores of the St. Lawrence, but a long and sensational season - which "will remain perhaps the most beautiful of my career," he predicts-has passed over there. Started in late January with a stage victory on the Tour de San Juan in Argentina from its second day of competition?

- More freshness -

Taken in the whirlwind of a Tour de France as magnificent as it was grueling with three weeks of Alafmania, 14 days in yellow and two stage victories, the Frenchman did not touch his bike for nearly two weeks in August and Montreal was only his sixth day since the break.

Of course, at the same time last year, he had won the Tour of Great Britain and then Slovakia, but he had arrived with many more days of competition in the legs in Innsbruck after his break after the Tour (precisely 13) and could not follow the tempo in the last climb of the circuit.

"From a personal point of view, I certainly lacked a bit of freshness," Alaphilippe recog- nized in Canada.

"The sequence of Great Britain Tour and Tour of Slovakia, it was great memories, but it was perhaps not the best option for the World Cup," he said.

This time, he therefore preferred to bet on a lighter program: "There, I will have a different approach, it may not change everything, but I will have done the maximum."

- Cosnefroy the 8th man -

In addition to improving his condition, the two Canadian races, his last two by the World Championships, have also revealed the last man to accompany him in Yorkshire: Benoit Cosnefroy, crowned world champion hopes there is two years.

France coach Thomas Voeckler had already given seven of the eight names, but reserved the last after Canada. The 10th place of the young rider of the AG2R team (23 years old) in Quebec City and his number in Montreal where, at 200 m, he could have fought for victory with Alaphilippe, certainly weighed in his choice.

"Despite his youth, he feels the race very well and knows how to make his efforts at the right moments of it.This aspect is essential on a competition without the use of the headset as it is the case during a Championship of the world ", justified Thomas Voeckler at the moment of revealing the last asset to support Alaphilippe in two weeks.

© 2019 AFP