Lefevere laments Julian Alaphilippe's fight "against bad luck"

Julian Alaphilippe has had a season torn apart by injuries and illnesses, but he is still looking to save it at the Vuelta a Espana and World championships. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team manager Patrick Lefevere has talked about the Frenchman and his year.

“Julian is a bit of a mystery this year. The whole season he has fought against bad luck. He was sick before the Tour de Provence, he was sick afterwards and it’s been one bad year for him," Lefevere explained in an interview with Velonews. "He won a stage in Pais Basque but a good Julian wins three stages there. He goes to the Vuelta but he had that crash in Liège, he was out until Wallonie, wins the first stage and then he’s out with COVID".

This sequence of mishaps in the first months of the season saw Alaphilippe only get away with one win, as he - like many others in the peloton - struggled to find his best form. The injuries he sustained at Liège-Bastogne-Liège saw him out of competition for two months, and miss the Tour de France consequently. Recently he returned to competition but had to take another break due to a positive Covid-19 test, and his return at the Tour de l'Ain showed there is still a lot of work to be done.

Although he should be chasing stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana that goal should be more realistic towards the final weeks of the race as he will surely be building form. His main target is at the World championships, so the hopes lie that due to the lighter summer, the World champion is able to benefit later in the season.

The rainbow stripes however are the main goal for Lefevere too, as he says: “Everyone knows that I’m in love with the rainbow jersey. For him, being a three-time world champion would be amazing and it would put him next to Sagan but it doesn’t compensate for the year".

"What I pay him to perform for the year, even with the bad luck, I still have to pay another bonus if he wins Worlds," he concluded. With two consecutive wins and a route that suits him very well, Alaphilippe may match the accomplishment that Peter Sagan had last decade, however with the likes of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and many more, it will be a difficult task.