Imola (Italy) (AFP)
By becoming world cycling champion on Sunday, Julian Alaphilippe entered a new world at the age of 28, with a changed outlook ahead of him for the second part of his career.
"It's a goal that I set for myself: to be world champion before the end of my career," repeated the Frenchman on Monday the day after his coronation in Imola (Italy).
But there are other challenges for the number one puncher of the peloton.
The Ardennes classics: immediately
If he misses the Walloon Flèche on Wednesday, the first classic that he made on his list in 2018, Alaphilippe is thinking about what to do next.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest of the classics, is scheduled for Sunday, six days before the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands.
Until now the Dean of the classics has refused him.
Second in 2015 in his first participation, he protected the success of his Luxembourg teammate Bob Jungels two years later and failed the other two times.
For French cycling, which has been waiting for Bernard Hinault's successor to win the prize list for ... forty years, Liège is the next big event.
"I will be able to savor the jersey on some great races," said the new world champion.
The Tour of Flanders: what to see
"I have no idea what I can do in the Tour of Flanders", smiled Alaphilippe when asked by a Flemish journalist about his first participation in the "Ronde" on October 18th.
His tone on short climbs and his skill inherited from his cyclo-cross training (silver medalist in juniors at the 2010 Worlds) predispose him to play the leading roles.
But, within a Deceuninck team traditionally armed on a specific course which requires experience, he is careful not to openly announce the color.
"This is a good year to discover it without pressure, without stress", he affirms with regard to the calendar which exceptionally places the Ardennes races, his chosen field, before the Flandriennes.
"The main goal is to discover, to have fun".
The Olympic title: next year?
To be passed close to the consecration here four years, when a fall in the descent of Vista Chinesa cut net its momentum towards the podium of the Olympic Games of Rio, Alaphilippe has an Olympic debt to its flow.
Fourth in 2016 along Copacabana beach, he is entitled to aim higher, much higher, in the vicinity of Mount Fuji where the Tokyo Games race will end.
Next July, on a circuit also adapted to its characteristics, the Olympic race will take place the weekend following the arrival of the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysées.
Up to one day, the same gap as between the conclusion of the 2020 Tour and the World Cup in Imola.
A sign ?
The Tour de France: the unknown
Alaphilippe owes most of his popularity to the Tour, after his five stage successes and his long series in yellow (14 days in 2019, 3 days in 2020).
But it remains with the speech held last year.
The Tour, at least its general classification, is outside its objectives.
"For the moment," he takes care to clarify.
"I do not have it in mind. It is not something that I have placed in my career, at least in the short term," he repeated on the evening of Imola.
Especially since his current team, turned so far towards one-day races, is not structured to support a leader in the mountains.
Things may change in the long term, both for the Belgian team, which will have to take into account the emergence of the Remco Evenenepoel phenomenon, and for the French rider, at the end of his contract at the end of 2021. What direction will his career take then?
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