The “elders” gradually give way to the young French guard … At 33, Julian Alaphilippe is certainly far from retirement as has been able to do Romain Bardet This Sunday – at the end of an exceptional day and in the form of a passage of power for tricolor cycling – but the former double world champion was able to attend the first lodges with the exploits of the new blue -white -red generation on the 1st chaotic stage of the chaotic stage Switzerland Tour. Present in the river escape which went to the end, the runner of the Tudor was among the four strongest at the front, but he had to bow to his young compatriots Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), released in strong in the final, et Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B & B Hotels), winner of the sprint for 2nd place. Solid fourth to Küssnacht, Alaphilippe returned to this crazy day after the line.
Video – Alaphilippe at a press conference before the Tour de Switzerland
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“No regret, I would have really liked to be able to play the victory but it was missing a little”
“It was a block day, we suspected that a chaotic step would have been. It's always better to have one step ahead. I did not necessarily plan to go ahead, but the race launched thoroughly from the first long climb, so I followed the movement a little. I made a lot of effort hoping that the group behind to come back with reinforcement, unfortunately I was a little lonely at the front. I tried to recover as much as possible, but I dropped a lot of cartridges in the first 40 kilometers and it was a bit hard in the final then. So no regret. I am happy with my day, even if I would have really liked to be able to play the victory, it was missing. Bravo to Romain“, he analyzed, beautiful player,
He finally had a little word on the triple victory of young French this Sunday, notably with that of Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) on the Dauphiné. “Lenny also won? It's good, I'm happy for them. Romain, it's a great guy, I saw him arriving in the peloton. We did the French team together. We know that he has great abilities, today (Sunday) he really won with the legs and the head. He went out at the right time, and he resisted behind, he made a great step“, the conclusion Julian Alaphilippewhich should have other opportunities to finally raise your arms with your new team this week.
