very well grounded. You can tell when
you speak to him he has a humility that
some rising stars lack. Part of the reason
for that is that his family has little interest
in racing. “My family does not come
from the cycling world and sometimes
it is crazy to think that they don’t even
know what races I am doing exactly.
They know it’s my job and I try to make
them proud,” he says.Onwards and upwards
As Dan Martin leaves for UAE Emirates
and Philippe Gilbert, now 35, grows older
it appears likely that Alaphilippe will fi nd
himself with greater responsibility within
the team, but he seems unfazed.
“Dan Martin leaving changes nothing.
I always try to win a race when I start,
even if we have fi ve leaders in the team.
It’s the team’s mentality and that’s my
mentality,” says Alaphilippe. “I already
had my space before.” He is set to keep
it, sharing leadership duties in the hilly
Classics with Gilbert and Bob Jungels.
“We are trying to win everything. A
guy like Philippe Gilbert also wants to
win Milan-San Remo but hasn’t been
able to do so yet. I dream for so much so
it’s hard to say one thing over another. I
want to be the greatest I can be and fi nd
my limit. I want to continue to improve
and win the biggest races in the world.”
“Little by little, he will be at the top,”
says sports director Rik Van Slycke.
“If you look at Greg Van Avermaet and
how long he had to wait to win. For
some riders it comes quickly, others
take around four years before it comes.
Julian has the capacity and the ability
to win on nearly every parcours, so one
day it’ll come out. He just needs the right
moment in the right situation.”
His 2018 focus will be on one-day races
or short stage races with minimal time
trialling. “We have a great generation of
Frenchmen coming through,” Alaphilippe
says. “We have riders who can win
Grand Tours like Romain Bardet, Warren
Barguil and Thibaut Pinot, and sprinters
and Classics riders.
“I want to continue what I do already.
I want to try to win a big Classic in the
future and to become better in one-week
stage races. Now, I am not thinking about
the GC in Grand Tours. It’s something
different later for me, but not at this
moment. I’m really focused on the
Classics and stage races like Paris-Nice,
the Dauphiné and Tour of California.”“My family does
not come from the
cycling world and
sometimes it is
crazy to think that
they don’t even
know what races I
am doing exactly”
Cycling Weekly | December 7, 2017 | 29