After finishing a clearly disappointed runner-up in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday and then passing an almost sleepless night such was the extent of euphoria, France’s new Classics sensation Julian Alaphilippe has described himself as “pleased” with his second place behind Alejandro Valverde in La Doyenne.
Speaking to L’Équipe after flying to Switzerland for Tuesday’s start of the Tour de Romandie, Alaphilippe admitted he had gone over the finale time after time in his head. Initially upset having got so close to victory, he revealed that his feelings have changed to pleasure at being so competitive in the toughest one-day race on the calendar.
“I realised what I had achieved thanks to all of the messages that I received from France and Belgium,” said the 22-year-old Etixx-QuickStep rider. “I had just finished second in the most beautiful race in the world to Alejandro Valverde… I’m very satisfied. No, not very satisfied, but pleased with myself.”
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Alaphilippe pointed out that he was in such a bad state having made a huge effort to defend the interests of Etixx team leader Michal Kwiatkowski on the penultimate Saint-Nicolas climb that he couldn’t have imagined then that he would finish second a handful of kilometres later.
“On the descent I did everything I could to recover. We turned left and there right in front of us was the wall [up to the finish in Ans]. That really motivated me. I told myself that victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège would be decided at the top. I wasn’t overawed. But I do need some more experience, to get to know the final, and the race’s tricky and most strategic points,” explained the Frenchman, who was quick to underline that second place on his Liège debut doesn’t mean he’ll win the race next year.
What he did acknowledge after an Ardennes campaign in which he finished seventh at Amstel Gold and second in Flèche Wallonne and Liège is that he has discovered the races for which he is tailor made. He described how he first got to know the races when he was racing for the French army team in 2011.
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