Sandwiched between two grizzled veterans of many a Flèche Wallonne, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and third placed Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) on the winner's podium atop the Mur de Huy, 22-year-old Julian Alaphilippe's runner-up spot in the mid-week Ardennes Classic could hardly fail to impress.
In a Classic like Flèche Wallonne where experience is traditionally considered a vital ingredient to success – it takes some riders years before mastering how they can perform the best on the Mur's devastatingly challenging slopes – Alaphilippe is clearly learning much faster than most. And as he told reporters afterward, although second is always a defeat no matter how you look at it, "for my first time performance here, I can't help but be pleased."
Alaphilippe was at pains to emphasise that his fine personal result had not come because of any personally inspired last-minute alteration to team orders at Etixx-QuickStep. As he said, his initial goal, and Etixx-QuickStep's, had been to ensure that [teammate] World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski was "well positioned for the final ascent of the Mur."
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"I hadn't thought about going for the sprint, we wanted Michal in that good position," the second year pro recounted. "But after that happened there was a moment on the climb where the bunch began to waver. And over the race radio, my sports director was shouting 'go, go'."
There was a point, he recounted, where he even saw himself adding a one-day WorldTour victory to his sole victory to date, a stage in the Tour de L'Ain last year in his debut season as a pro.
"I thought in the last 200 metres I was going really well, but then Valverde eased ahead and got three or four metres, and I knew I was beaten," he recounted.
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