PRESS Conference Julian Alaphilippe | "I don't need to mention Pogacar" - Former World Champion on main rivals for hilly stages
Cycling
Julian Alaphilippe is a rider that in the past has experienced a lot of success and victories at the Tour de France. In 2025 this is more difficult, but the leader of Tudor Pro Cycling Team has shared with CyclingUpToDate and other media in Lens what his feelings are ahead of his return to the French Grand Tour.
Amongst others, the former World Champion was asked about the recent Tour de Suisse in which he finished an impressive Top5; his preparation for the race, France's Tour drought and and who he believes will be his main rivals for the explosive finales of the first week.
Question: How do you feel here with two days to go to the Tour de France?
Answer: I'm super happy to be back at the Tour and to be here specially with my new team Tudor for the first time, it will be for sure a special experience for us. Super excited, motivated and looking forward to start the race.
Q: Ambitions, what are they?
A: Of course, we always have ambition. I think we have a strong and homogene team to hunt for a few stages. The goal and the dream is to perform and to win a stage in the Tour, it's always something special and I think it will be the goal during the next three weeks - to chase stage victories.
Q: I hear you mention that the first week is interesting for the puncheurs. Do you consider yourself to be one and why?
A: I think I still am more of a puncheur than a climber or sprinter, there are a few stages in the first week that suit me quite well, but of course you need good legs. I did everything in my preparation to feel good, specially in the first week, so let's see.
Q: What's the best part of being a puncheur?
A: To have a strong acceleration, out and painful moments... But there are so many puncheurs in the peloton... I think I always had these qualities and I'm always working on it. I also worked in some mountains in the training camp at altitude, my preparation is really mostly the same as last years before the Tour.
Q: Who do you consider to be your main rivals for the punchy stages?
A: Like I said so many guys are strong in a punchy parcours, but also GC riders - I don't need to mention Pogacar. A guy like also Mathieu van der Poel is fast in the sprint, super strong in the punch, there are many many guys who can be strong so I hope to be part of these guys.
Q: This year, 40 years ago there was the last French winner of the Tour de France. What does that mean for French cyclists and young professionals? Is that still an issue? What does the name [Bernard] Hinault mean to you?
A: Of course it's a long time, for sure, but I don't feel concerned about being the next French man to win the Tour (laughs, ed.).
Q: There's a lot of young people coming up, I ask as an experienced French rider, not if you want to win the Tour de France?
A: I think every French rider knows that gap between Bernard Hinault and today, when I say I don't feel concerned, it's also the next French winner of the Tour he's not even thinking about this. We're just trying to do our best, we have some strong French riders who can win in the future but it's not something I think about, I'm just focused on what I want to do and what we have to do. I hope that the gap will be closed at one moment. It's true that 40 years is a lot.
Q: You had an outstanding Tour de Suisse recently, do you think that your climbing values are as strong as they were in 2019?
A: I didn't check it, but I felt good in Suisse. It was an important week before coming here, I took confidence from being there. I enjoyed racing in Switzerland which was the home race for Tudor. It was, like I said, the last big week of preparation before the Tour. The most important is the feeling and I enjoyed it, I had good feeling, good things coming to the Tour.
Q: Preparing for this Tour, did you focus specifically on the first week or longevity throughout the three weeks?
A: My goal is to do a good Tour. The first week is important because it has a few good opportunities for us, a rider like Marc [Hirschi], me or Alberto [Dainese]. But yeah, the Tour is long, we also know that second and last week are super hard. If it's going well for us in the first week it's good, if not we know that it's a long way until Paris so we have to be strong and patient.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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