🎙”I’m super happy to be here and motivated for this weekend. I took a break after the Worlds and now I hope to increase my shape until the last races of the season.”
"I always want to win and I always want to be at my best level" - Julian Alaphilippe seeks form in Canadian classics
CyclingFriday, 08 September 2023 at 13:35
Crashes and illnesses ruined Julian Alaphilippe's 2022 season. The lack of a proper base, caused by some more issues in 2023, has seen him struggle in some of the main races of the year with the apparent lack of endurance and struggles late in the races.
“It was a difficult year for me with not a lot of success. It was also an important year to learn a lot. I think that after the last season, I wanted to do everything I could to come back on my level this year and it is what I did,” the Frenchman told Velo. “For the results, I also have to be patient and continue to work hard like I always did. I hope to do a good end of the season and to have some success. This is all I can say, that I am really motivated and I do everything I can to come back at my best level.”
Read also
The former World Champion has not lost the urge to return to his best level. He's given glimpses of good form this year with a few wins including at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Whilst he's not lost his explosiveness, in the main classics he does no longer appear to be in the level of riders such as Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar.
However it was not a lost year in his career. “I learned a lot of things, not only about cycling," he continues. "It is a mix of a lot of things and it is important for me to take it with me and to enjoy myself on the bike and to continue to work hard and come back at my best level. It’s not only one thing, it’s a mix of a lot of things."
After the World Championships he took some rest and returned to racing at the Bretagne Classic. He was 30th there, looking to build form towards this weekend's GP de Québec and Montréal, before a few other one-day races which he should be aiming towards the end of the year. “My way of racing, it’s my way to do cycling. I will never change. The only thing I can say is that I take time to put a little bit less stress and pressure on myself because I always want to win and I always want to be at my best level and you realize that it is not possible after some complicated moments and this is something that I learned."
"It’s not always like you want. I took a little bit some steps back to think about my health first and to enjoy myself. I always work as much as I can to be on the best shape that I can and the success comes after that. I have to still be passionate and I never give up. I will do my best to win again.”
Read also
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He needs to finish out his contract and then go hit MTB and Cross/Gravel really hard, that's where his heart is.awp18-11-2024
- Pidcock is starting to sound like Froome now.Sweep18-11-2024
- I think this was because there were junior women in the race. If a race has junior women am pretty sure it has to be less than 45 minutes. I believe a rule is coming in for next season that will fine organisers that don't put on a junior women's race a fine equivalent to the prize money. So fingers crossed we should see more longer elite and junior women's races from next season.NorrisHippocampe18-11-2024
- Of course he CAN. Big salary in cycling is not when you win but when they talk about you (and your team / sponsors). For every news about Jonas, MVdP or Wout there are 10 times more(!) news about Pidcock (like everyday for last 2 months?). Since cycling is advertising sport not competitive sport (in terms of from money comes from) Pidcock is winner and GOAT - change my mind. ;-)averagecyclist18-11-2024
- Why do the women CXs keep getting short changed with the length of theor races? They could have easily done another lap to put them at 50 minutes which is their time limit. Yet another CX race where they fail to reach this when they had a chance to. Come on ... the math isn't that hard to figure out lap times and divide into 50 min!frieders318-11-2024
- All pro cyclists are massively underpaid! The amount of riding and physical exertion they put their bodies through is crazy compared to other sports. I can't think of any other sport where you are physically active at a very high level of power output for hours on end each day.Pogboom17-11-2024
- When I was working for Starkist/Heinz my manager quit. So the next week my group was put under another manager. During our first meeting he asked if there was anything we needed to tell him. I said that I would be out the following week on vacation. He said "I don't know if I can let you go on vacation". I replied, "You can't tell if I can go. You can only tell me if I can come back".Sweep17-11-2024
- :-)Sweep17-11-2024
- What a mess there :-)
DareDevil17-11-2024 - So he read the comments here probably :-)DareDevil17-11-2024