Another near miss but no regrets for Julian Alaphilippe (France) after he placed second behind world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia) in the inaugural European Championships elite men’s road race in Plumelec on Sunday.
Racing on home roads, the French squad was prominent throughout the 232-kilometre race, and eventually placed three riders in the top ten, as Alaphilippe took the silver medal, Samuel Dumoulin finished fourth and Tony Gallopin came home in seventh.
In the small group sprint in the finale on the Côte de Cadoudal, however, there was little to be done against the powerful Sagan, who ripped clear inside the final 100 metres to take the win, while Alaphilippe came past Dani Moreno (Spain) to take second place.
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“The French team did a good race. We were all motivated to take this first ever European pro title. I think we made a real impact on the race. We had three cards to play with Tony Gallopin, Samuel Dumoulin and me, and we were all there in the finale,” Alaphilippe said afterwards, according to L’Équipe.
“We took on our responsibilities but we were up against a Peter Sagan who was clearly the strongest. I have nothing to regret, even if all of these places of honour that I’m picking up are becoming a bit tiresome.”
After fourth place at the Rio 2016 Olympics, second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège last year and at Flèche Wallonne in each of the past two seasons, Alaphilippe has come maddeningly close to a series of major victories. His defeat to Sagan in Plumelec was reminiscent of his second place behind the world champion on stage 2 of this year's Tour de France in Cherbourg.
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