Paris (AFP)

Julian Alaphilippe, reigning world champion, believes he is on the right track, but without being in top form, before the Strade Bianche, his first Italian meeting scheduled for Saturday.

"I am not at all worried", declared Thursday during a press briefing the Frenchman (28 years), who admits to be eager to enter in the period of the classics and to win.

If he has not yet won in 2021, Alaphilippe has often shown himself at the front both at the Tour de la Provence in mid-February (2nd in the final classification) and at Het Nieuwsblad last Saturday, when he promoted the success of his Italian teammate Davide Ballerini.

The rider of the Deceuninck team has designated the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel and the Belgian Wout Van Aert, the outgoing winner of the Strade Bianche, as the first favorites of the Italian race, which gives pride of place to gravel paths before arriving in Siena.

"But they are not the only ones (who can win), there are a lot of big names."

For its part, + Alaf + has indicated that it does not have quite the same shape as in 2019 when it flew over the Tuscan classic before removing two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-Sanremo.

"Clearly, I feel good but I'm not in the same condition, I was in a state of confidence and 100% form," he said.

"But I feel that the sensations are coming back well. A lot of races, which I like a lot, will follow one another, it will be a big period until Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I hope to get a big result before the end" .

"I tried to manage my start to the season as well as possible, to recover well after each race, things are going in the right direction," added Alaphilippe.

"I have been having fun since the first race. I remain faithful to what I have always been, to my way of running, to the attack, it is the best way to honor the world champion's jersey" .

"There will be races where you have to calculate a little more effort", conceded the former yellow jersey of the Tour de France who also returned to his tactics during the Het Nieuwsblad: "I was one of the favorites, I would say in spite of myself, I felt good but I was not great. I decided to try from a distance, I knew that I did not have the legs to impose myself on my own. If I had attacked in the wall of Grammont, I couldn't have made it to the finish line. "

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