Second place at Flèche Wallonne meant that Julian Alaphilippe’s Ardennes campaign had already hit a high note as the young Etixx-QuickStep rider netted France’s best result in the mid-week Classic since 2000. But then on Sunday, Alaphilippe eclipsed his own achievement in Flèche with an even more outstanding runner-up spot at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the best result for France in La Doyenne since Laurent Jalabert in 1998.
Perhaps the crucial difference between Jalabert in 1998 and Alaphilippe in 2015 is that whereas ‘the Panda’ was at the height of his powers when he finished second at Liège behind Michele Bartoli for the second year running in 1998, Alaphilippe, at 22, still has considerable room for improvement.
The Frenchman was clearly not satisfied with claiming a podium finish in his first-ever participation in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, either, waving his right arm in frustration after edging his way around Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) into second behind Valverde for the second time in five days.
ADVERTISEMENT
As on Wednesday, Alaphilippe had been fully subject to Etixx-QuickStep’s team orders to work for protected rider Michal Kwiatkowski, and he followed the squad’s game-plan faithfully throughout the race.
But when the World Champion and Amstel Gold winner realised on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas that he was not in great shape, in a carbon copy of last Wednesday’s final minutes of Flèche Wallonne, Etixx-QuickStep’s directors radioed through to the young Frenchman that he was able to ride his own race.
Alaphilippe then played a crucial role in the outcome of the race by unintentionally dragging the remnants of the front group back up to Valverde on the climb to Ans as he chased the Spaniard down. That also made his final sprint for the line even more impressive given that the young Frenchman had burned a few matches just moments before.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1Gyz1Da
No comments:
Post a Comment