Europe 1 with AFP 17:56 p.m., April 18, 2023

Forfeit for the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, the race he has won three times, French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe is due to make his return to Liège-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday. A year after his heavy crash in the same race, the Frenchman hopes to regain a minimum of confidence a few months before the Tour de France.

A year after coming close to the worst, Julian Alaphilippe, forfeit for the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, struggles to find the front of the stage under the increasingly impatient gaze of his boss. The images are still chilling. On 24 April 2022, the Frenchman, then two-time reigning world champion, was the victim of a serious accident during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, of which he was one of the favourites. Thrown at 70 km/h against a tree, he suffered a pneumothorax, a fracture to a shoulder blade and several broken sides.

In the documentary dedicated to his team Quick Step on the Amazon platform, we relive from the inside the panicked reaction of his sports directors, the tears of his mechanic and those of his companion Marion Rousse, to the comments that day for France Televisions. The accident is the blackest point of a season in hell during which the 30-year-old Auvergnat accumulates viruses, injuries and hospital stays. After a winter spent "rejuvenating" with his family, "Alaf" is determined to attack 2023 with the knife between his teeth. "I have rabies," he said in January. "We're going to see great Julian this year," said teammate Rémi Cavagna.

>> READ ALSO – For his last season, the cyclist Thibaut Pinot hopes "that the public will still vibrate with him"

"Fate is on him"

And in fact, the year started rather well with a victory on February 25 in the Ardèche Classic, only his third success since his second world championship title in 2021. But since then, the scoumoune machine is working at full speed again. While he had made Flanders his goal at the beginning of the season, he fell ill and retired at the E3 Grand Prix. A week later, he crashed in the Tour of Flanders, which he left with a left knee injury. The wound becomes infected and he is forced to leave the bike in the garage for a week.

Forfeited for the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, the race he has won three times, he must make his return to Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, in a role of teammate of Remco Evenepoel. "Fate is harsh on him," laments his companion who praises his "strength of character". "A lot of people would have been disillusioned. But he remains serious and focused. He impresses me more than when he won ten races a year," insists the director of the Tour de France femmes.

But the general manager of the Soudal-Quick Step team, Patrick Lefevere, does not hide his impatience. Since this winter, he has been distilling acerbic words and put another layer back Monday night in the RMC Podcast "Grand Plateau".

>> READ ALSO – Cycling: untouchable, Tadej Pogacar wins his first Tour of Flanders

"It eats up a lot of my budget"

"Luckily he became a two-time world champion. Apart from that, he won the first stage of the Tour and wore the yellow jersey (in 2021, editor's note). I understand that all French teams are excited with this, but not me. I like him, like everyone else. But I have to be realistic. It eats up a large part of my budget and I still want results too," said the Flemish manager.

"We must be honest, when Julian Alaphilippe shone, there was no Pogacar, Van der Poel, these phenomena," he added in a particularly severe judgment, pointing to the important salary (estimated at 2.3 million euros per season) of the Frenchman, under contract until 2024 and that he does not plan to extend under these conditions. "But I always say it's like school: three terms ago. Let's imagine that he wins two or three stages in the Tour de France and wears the yellow jersey for ten days, it becomes another story," concluded the Belgian in a more conciliatory tone.

>> DISCOVER HERE - Christophe Laporte, new star of French cycling?

Tour stage recognition

In fact, Julian Alaphilippe says he is thinking "already about the Tour" that will start on July 1 from the Spanish Basque Country and where he should be the leader of his training in the absence of Evenepoel, focused on the Giro. "He has already planned stage recognitions. He is really vengeful and he has a very big desire to do well, especially since he missed the Tour last year," said Marion Rousse. Here's hoping that, this time, bad luck forgets him a little.