Leuven (Belgium) (AFP)

He showered the enthusiasm of the Belgian public!

Julian Alaphilippe retained his title of world cycling champion on Sunday in Louvain, in Flandria.

The 29-year-old Frenchman won solo after a decisive attack 17 kilometers from the finish.

He is the first Frenchman to win two titles since the first world championship in 1927.

The Dutchman Dylan van Baarle took second place, around 30 seconds behind, ahead of the Dane Michael Valgren and the Belgian Jasper Stuyven.

In front of a huge crowd, present throughout the 268.3 kilometer course between Antwerp and Louvain, Alaphilippe signed the tenth French victory in the flagship event of the Worlds.

Winner of the first stage and yellow jersey of the Tour de France at the start of the summer, Alaphilippe claimed his fourth victory of the season, a year after his first world triumph in Imola (Italy).

He inflicted a major defeat on the Belgian team who staked everything on the big favorite, Wout van Aert, for whom Remco Evenepoel turned into a luxury teammate in contrast to his behavior at the Tokyo Olympics.

The race, exciting, ignited ... 178 kilometers from the finish, on an attack from the French who had already ignited some sparks.

Evenepoel reacted to an attack by Benoît Cosnefroy and was joined by a strong group (with Cort, Roglic, Tratnik, Asgreen, Démare) which forced Italy to assume the pursuit alone for almost an hour.

The Belgian then joined in another breakaway of 11 riders initiated by Valentin Madouas.

It thus served as a fulcrum for van Aert when Alaphilippe blasted the peloton 58 kilometers from the finish and caused the selection of a group of favorites, without the winner of the Tour de France (Pogacar).

With three representatives for Belgium, France and Italy but only one for Denmark (Valgren), Slovenia (Mohoric) and Great Britain (Pidcock), the group of 17 riders condemned the peloton.

Alaphilippe attacked twice and tackled the last lap (15 km) alone in the lead moments after taking the lead.

Julian Alaphilippe starts an attack and flies off to victory in the elite Worlds race in Leuven, September 26, 2021 Kristof RAMON POOL / AFP

Behind the defending champion, a quartet (Powless, Valgren, Stuyven, van Baarle) dropped ballast while van Aert remained alongside his great rivals, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel and the Italian Sonny Colbrelli, the recent European champion who finally ranked 10th.

© 2021 AFP