Dauphiné: Julian Alaphilippe regains a taste for victory before the Tour de France

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT 18:48 pm, June 05, 2023

Goal achieved: Julian Alaphilippe raised his arms on the Dauphiné from the second stage, Monday in La Chaise-Dieu where, after months of spleen, he set a date for the Tour de France. Less than a month before the start of the Grande Boucle (1-23 July), the former double world champion was full of confidence after popping up at the last moment to jump on the line Olympic champion Richard Carapaz and Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion. Fourth in the stage, Frenchman Christophe Laporte, who had won the day before, kept the yellow jersey, at the same time as Julian Alaphilippe but ahead of him in the addition of places.

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"The last few months have been long but I have been able to stay patient and work hard"

"The last few months have been long but I have been able to stay patient and work hard. Then you have to win. It's done and it feels good," said the 30-year-old Auvergnat who took his second victory of the season, his third overall on the Dauphiné. These last times have been difficult for the Soudal Quick-Step rider who has multiplied falls and illnesses, under the increasingly critical eye of his boss, Patrick Lefevere.

"Doubts of course I had. But I knew how to question myself and I never stopped believing. Otherwise I wouldn't have won today. It shows that I have a hard head," added "Alaf", who was counting on this Dauphiné to start a virtuous circle for the Tour de France where he should be the leader of his team. Asked if his victory heralded a bright July, he said, as if vaccinated by the events of the last two seasons: "I hope. You can't predict anything. I've gotten used to adapting in the last few months."

"Completely liberated"

"I don't get fired up, you have to stay calm and that's also the meaning of my gesture on the line: calm, no stress. I didn't win the Tour but a beautiful stage of the Dauphiné," insisted the Frenchman who had to skip the Grande Boucle last year, insufficiently recovered from his crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. At the Dauphiné, he can now approach the weekend "completely liberated", while remaining "very motivated". And this thirst for victory, it was seen Monday in a final too difficult for most sprinters, wrung in the last climb leading to the finish at the foot of the abbey of La Chaise-Dieu, masterpiece of Gothic architecture of the fourteenth century.

"We were more in order to do a sprint with Ethan Vernon"

"We were more in order to do a sprint with (his teammate) Ethan Vernon," he said. And if it was too hard for him, we had Florian (Sénéchal), or Andrea Bagioli, or me." But "in the finale, Ethan +fart+, Florian told me he was two terminals from the finish and Andrea, I didn't see him. I had good legs, I saw everyone a little bit and I made my effort at the right time," he added. In particular, he overtook Christophe Laporte, still in front after being brought as in an armchair by his leader, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, bluffing with dedication to the one who is usually his servant and will still be at the Tour de France.

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But the day for the Jumbo-Visma team was marred by the retirement of Steven Kruijswijk, who was supposed to help Vingegaard defend his crown on the Grande Boucle. "From what I understand it's pretty important what he has. His chances of participating in the Tour are gone," lamented Laporte. This is a hard blow for Vingegaard who, still in the morning, had insisted on the caution to be had on this Dauphiné in view of the big meeting in July, erected to the rank of "absolute priority".