Julian Alaphilippe approaches Liège-Bastogne-Liège with less certainty than in previous years.
On the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, the Frenchman finished 4th at the Mur de Huy, where he previously seemed unbeatable.
The world champion puts a lot of pressure on himself since wearing the rainbow jersey.
Too much ?
Something is wrong.
On the one hand, Julian Alaphilippe did not win the Flèche Wallonne in the middle of the week and on the other hand, he would almost be satisfied with it.
“I am relieved that the race is over, sighed the world champion in the mixed zone.
I did what I could, the legs spoke.
I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders before the start.
The body language of the Frenchman, less explosive and airy than usual, did not deceive anyone.
The tension was indeed palpable.
Should we see the pressure of a team that turns less well crystallized in a single man on whom now depends the success of the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl on the classics?
This is the theory of former racer Steve Chainel.
“I think it affects him a bit.
Maybe within his team, he is gently put under pressure.
Of course Julian knows how to manage it given his track record, but it may not be the same to have almost your team's classic season in your hands as when he went to Flèche, Amstel and Liège with Asgreen , winner in Flanders, Lampaert and Stybar on the podium in Roubaix and Sénéchal, winner of a beautiful classic.
Inevitably, the pressure is no longer the same.
Alaphilippe's words go in this direction.
“I feel like the pressure is increasing year by year, especially with all the talk about us and our start to the season.
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The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl disappointing this spring
For those to whom it would have escaped, the Belgian formation, insolent collector of major successes since the extinction of the dinosaurs at least, tries since the beginning of the year to lose.
Sometimes in an embarrassing way, like the forceful passage of the Quick-Step sports director's car on the Flèche Brabançonne, which, by domino effect, caused the fall and retirement of Julian Alaphilippe.
Anecdotal, but not too much.
“It's the kind of thing that doesn't happen when things are going well,” says Chainel.
As for the sports directors, we are lucid.
No “yes but we have victories in secondary races with Jakobsen, Evenpoel and Cavendish”.
At most fatalism linked to these last weeks, these last months, and this damn Covid-19 which has quite affected the preparation of avant-classics.
“We can make a long list of runners who were sick during the preparation, during the competition and who had to abandon the races, lists Rik van Slycke, one of the leaders of the Quick-Step.
What you did not take during the preparation, you cannot recover it the following days.
".
He pursues :
If we do the math, we were very unlucky and because of that, we ran races being less aggressive because we didn't have the runners in good shape.
And on top of that, the competition has not slept, with good recruits.
The others copied our team, our tactics.
They start rolling like us.
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Van Slycke believes that Liège-Bastogne-Liège will be the second race of the season where his team will be at 100% capacity.
The first being Paris-Roubaix, where, again no luck, Yves Lampaert got meaty seven miles from the finish while he was still in the game.
Sunday, Alaph 'can count on the complicity of Remco Evenepoel, who, as a former soccer player, still finds pleasure in the decisive pass.
"I had time to raise my arms to appreciate his victory, I had goosebumps", jubilant the young Belgian after having helped the Frenchman to achieve his first success in 2022, on the Tour of the Basque Country. .
"Not on the street full", announces Alaphilippe
It was also he who brought him into the wheel of Pogacar at the Huy wall – a strategic error, of course, but a well-intentioned one.
The sporting director hopes that his presence and those of Vansevenant and Van Vilder will be able to comfort the Frenchman before Sunday.
“He has teammates who are 100% behind him, and with Remco he knows he has no pressure to be alone.
Even when he wants to win, he likes to know that he is not alone in being able to succeed.
We can understand that.
The world champion's jersey is already heavy enough to carry for one man, if you also have to hold a team at arm's length, there is enough to blow up a cable and run backwards.
Our file on Julian Alaphilippe
"From time to time he wants to prove too much," continues Van Slycke.
He wants to be worthy of his jersey, so he makes his efforts at the wrong time, there is nervousness, a desire to do well.
“As for the legs, the last training outings have been positive and no one seems to be worried about it, Alaphilippe the first: “I'm not completely out of it either.
“With a Pogacar less airy than expected and Dylan Teuns for best opponent (unless van Aert is already back on top), it would be a sin for lack of faith to completely abandon the idea of a success for the Frenchman in Liège, where he will have the advantage of not feeling the pressure of the defending champion, given that this monument is one of the few that still eludes him.
This time, only victory can relieve him.
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Flèche Brabançonne: Alaphilippe falls because of the Quick Step car
Julian Alaphilippe
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Belgium