Julian Alaphilippe finished 12th at the French championships this Sunday in Saint-Martin-de-Landelles. An anecdotal result for the former world champion who nevertheless gave everything in the final, attacking the peloton numerous times, but to little effect. Alone against the swarm of Decathlon AG2R jersey, he was burning his matches, but it was at least a good test for legs after a month of rest post Giro d'Italia, Alaphilippe reckons.
"I have no regrets," said Alaphilippe after the race in comments reported by the newspaper l’Equipe. "I don’t think I was trapped. It was a group of strong men who managed to get out and I couldn’t cross towards them," he explains.
Faced with the large collective power of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, it is clear that Julian Alaphilippe, with only two young teammates, Antoine Huby and Paul Magnier, had limited possibilities of influencing the race. The circuit was "perhaps not demanding enough to succeed in making a selection and arriving one by one", which ended up "favoring the big collective of Decathlon AG2R," explains the two-time world champion.
However his doubts regarding form after completed Giro d'Italia were proven odd at the French Championships, where Alaphilippe rode a good race. "I hadn't raced since the Giro and I suspected that the sensations were going to be a little strange. But I felt better in the finish than at the start of the race." This is optimistic towards Alaphilippe's next goals, be it the Tour of Slovakia next week, or Olympic Games in early August. Alaphilippe hasn't got no guarantee of the nomination yet, but if keeps performing at this level, he should be certain to start in Paris.
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