Julian Alaphilippe

Julian Alaphilippe (born 11 June 1992) is a French professional road cyclist and cyclocross racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Deceuninck–Quick-Step.[2] He is the brother of racing cyclist Bryan Alaphilippe.[3]

Julian Alaphilippe
Alaphilippe at the 2018 Tour of Britain, a race that he won.
Personal information
Full nameJulian Alaphilippe
NicknameLoulou
Born (1992-06-11) 11 June 1992
Saint-Amand-Montrond, France
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)[1]
Team information
Current teamDeceuninck–Quick-Step
Disciplines
RoleRider
Rider typePuncheur
Amateur team
2012Armée de Terre
Professional teams
2013Etixx–IHNed
2014–Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
Mountains classification (2018)
4 individual stages (2018, 2019)
Combativity award (2019)
Vuelta a España
1 individual stage (2017)

Stage races

Tour of California (2016)
Tour of Britain (2018)

One-day races and Classics

Milan–San Remo (2019)
La Flèche Wallonne (2018, 2019)
Clásica de San Sebastián (2018)
Strade Bianche (2019)

Other

Vélo d'Or (2019)

Career

Early career

Born in Saint-Amand-Montrond, Alaphilippe started his career competing in the cyclo-cross discipline, finishing second in the Junior World Cyclo-Cross Championships in 2010.

Alaphilippe's road career began in 2012, riding with amateur team Armée de Terre. During this season, he finished second overall and won a stage in the Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay, a UCI America Tour 2.2 event.[4]

Alaphilippe joined Etixx–IHNed, the development team for UCI WorldTeam Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. The young rider had an even more successful season in 2013, finishing 4th in the European Road Race Championships and 9th in the UCI Road World Under-23 Championships. He also won a stage and the points classification of the Tour de l'Avenir, and won the Grand Prix Südkärnten, a one-day race.

Omega Pharma–Quick-Step (2014–present)

2014

Alaphilippe joined Omega Pharma–Quick-Step in 2014. He obtained his first podium on the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya. He was also second in Stage 5.[4] Alaphilippe scored his first victory as a neo-pro in Stage 4 of Tour de l'Ain where he showed his explosiveness in an uphill finish ahead of Dan Martin.[5] His best World Tour result of the year was a fifth-place finish in the GP Ouest–France.

2015
Alaphilippe (left) on the podium of the 2015 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, along with Alejandro Valverde (centre) and Joaquim Rodríguez

2015 was a breakthrough year for Alaphilippe. He acted as a supporter role in the Ardennes classics to help his teammate, the reigning world champion Michał Kwiatkowski, but surprisingly finished 7th in the Amstel Gold Race behind winner Kwiatkowski. In La Flèche Wallonne, his first time participating in the race, he continued to support Kwiatkowski but found his teammate too far behind at a crucial juncture. His team director told him to go for the win and he finished second after three-time winner Alejandro Valverde.[6] The scenario repeated itself at Liège–Bastogne–Liège a few days later when Alaphilippe finished 2nd in his La Doyenne debut, again behind Valverde.[7] In doing so, Alaphilippe recorded the best French performance at the race since 1998, when Laurent Jalabert finished second.[8]

After those performances and a string of podium finishes in the Tour de Romandie, Alaphilippe was, on 4 May, granted a contract extension for two more years, until the end of 2017.[9] Later in the month he won the queen stage of the Tour of California and took over the lead in the general classification, 2 seconds ahead of Peter Sagan.[10] However, he lost the overall eventually to Sagan by just 3 seconds in the last stage due to the time bonuses in a flat sprint.[11] In the later part of the summer, he finished eighth in the Clásica de San Sebastián, finishing in the lead group behind the winner, Adam Yates. He subsequently finished tenth overall in the Eneco Tour, which included a stage that used many of the Ardennes classics roads.[12] His form was dropped significantly near the end of the year, including a DNF in the Road World Championships. He was later diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis. The disease led to extreme fatigue, rendering him unable to maintain his top performance and marking the end of his season.[13]

2016
Alaphillippe (left) at the 2016 Tour de France

In April, Alaphilippe placed 2nd at La Flèche Wallonne for the second year in a row. He then earned his biggest victory at the time, at the Tour of California, when he won a stage and the overall. The lead was taken on stage 3 when he attacked on an HC climb with less than 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) left. His form continued in Critérium du Dauphiné which he finished 6th overall and 1st in the young rider classification. It was also his first white jersey in UCI World Tour races.[14] In late June, he was named in the start list for the Tour de France.[15] During the Tour de France, he held the young rider classification from stages 2–6 and won the combativity award on stage 16.

Alaphilippe was selected to represent his nation at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, competing in the road race and road time trial.[16] During the road race and being one of the pre-race favorites, he caught up with the leading group of cyclists on the final climb of Vista Chinesa, but his crash on the descent hindered him from joining the final attack launched by Greg Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang to catch the sole leader Rafał Majka before the finish line. Alaphilippe eventually finished the road race in fourth position, 22 seconds behind the winner Van Avermaet.[17][18] Alaphilippe finished in 32nd position in the road time trial.

2017
Alaphilippe, wearing the white jersey of young rider classification leader, at the 2017 Paris–Nice.

Alaphilippe started his 2017 spring preparation in Abu Dhabi Tour. He finished 5th overall and won the young rider classification. In March, he rode Paris–Nice and won his first career time trial, with an uphill finish in stage 4 keeping his race lead in the next three days.[19] He finished 5th overall eventually, but able to remain the winner of the young rider classification. The four top-5 stage finishes was also enough for him to clinch the points classification. The following weekend, Alaphilippe finished third at Milan–San Remo, being narrowly beaten in a sprint by Michał Kwiatkowski and world champion Peter Sagan after the trio broke clear on the final climb, Poggio di San Remo.[20]

After a strong start, Alaphilippe's season was hampered by a lengthy injury sustained at the Tour of the Basque Country. It was announced in April by his team that Alaphilippe would miss the Ardennes classics due to a pre-patellar lesion knee injury.[21] He also missed out his primary goal of the year, the Tour de France, after undergoing knee surgery in May.[22] Alaphilippe returned to racing at Grand Prix Pino Cerami in July,[23] and made his debut at the Vuelta a España a month later. He scored his maiden Grand Tour stage win in Stage 8 during which he outclimbed Rafał Majka and Jan Polanc from a breakaway.[24]

In August, Alaphilippe signed a two-year contract with his team Quick-Step Floors, keeping him through the 2019 season.[25]

2018

During the third and final ascent of the Mur de Huy at La Flèche Wallonne, Alaphilippe accelerated near its summit, overtaking the sole race leader Jelle Vanendert in the last 100 metres of the race and dropping him. Alejandro Valverde, who had won the last four La Flèche Wallonne editions, staged a late fight-back and almost caught Alaphilippe, but the latter was able to kick again in the final metres to increase his lead over Valverde and eventually win the race. It was the biggest victory of Alaphilippe's career at that point, and he was the first French winner of La Flèche Wallonne since Laurent Jalabert won in 1997.[26][27]

Alaphilippe wearing the polka dot jersey at the 2018 Tour de France. He ultimately won the mountains classification, and finished 33rd overall.

Alaphilippe participated in his second Tour de France, and claimed his maiden Tour de France stage win in stage 10 with a series of attacks and aggressive descending in the Alps. He took the maximum mountains classification points on the Montée du plateau des Glières, the Col de Romme and the Col de la Colombière, finishing the stage 1 minute, 34 seconds ahead of the second placed rider Ion Izagirre of Bahrain–Merida, and 3 minutes, 23 seconds ahead of the peloton that included the defending champion Chris Froome. Alaphilippe also took the lead in the mountains classification after the end of Stage 10.[28][29] Alaphilippe won the 16th stage of the race after Adam Yates crashed, while leading, on the descent 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) before the finishing line.[30]

The following month, Alaphilippe won the Clásica de San Sebastián, out-sprinting Bauke Mollema for the win, after the two riders escaped the field on the final climb.[31] He then won the third stage and the general classification of the Tour of Britain, after taking the overall lead on the sixth stage of the week long competition. Alaphilippe continued to have success in stage races, as he won the Okolo Slovenska less than a week later.

Despite his large amount of successes in 2018, Alaphilippe faced disappointment at the UCI Road World Championships, where he was appointed France's team leader. On the final climb, he cracked and lost contact with the race leaders, and ended up finishing 8th.[32]

2019
Alaphilippe celebrating victory at the 2019 Milan–San Remo

Alaphilippe started the 2019 season in February with the Vuelta a San Juan and the Tour Colombia. At the Vuelta a San Juan, he finished second overall and won two stages, and won the points classification and one stage at the Tour Colombia. His first major race was Strade Bianche, which he won, beating out Astana rider Jakob Fuglsang in a kick up the final climb.[33] He finished 6th overall in Tirreno–Adriatico, earning a surprise victory on stage 6 despite leading out his team's designated sprinter Elia Viviani.[34] He then won his first Monument, in Milan–San Remo after attacking on the Poggio di San Remo and outsprinting Oliver Naesen and Michał Kwiatkowski. He became UCI World ranking No. 1 as a result. This was followed up by a near-miss of a podium place for the Amstel Gold Race, then three days later, a successful defense of his La Flèche Wallonne title that he had won in 2018.

Alaphilippe at the 2019 Tour de France wearing the yellow jersey

Alaphilippe won the third stage of the Tour de France on 8 July, simultaneously earning himself the yellow jersey. After losing the jersey on stage six to Giulio Ciccone, he regained it after the eighth stage, where he finished third. He then won stage 13, the individual time trial, in Pau by beating Geraint Thomas by 14 seconds. He kept the jersey until stage 19 after being dropped on the Col de l'Iseran. It was his most successful Tour to date finishing in 5th place overall, winning 2 stages, wearing the yellow jersey for 14 stages and while he was not named the most combative rider after any individual stages, he did stand on the podium in Paris as the most combative rider for the entire Tour.

Personal life

His father was musician Jo Alaphilippe. After being ill for a long time (he was in a wheelchair at the 2019 Tour de France), he died in June 2020. His nephew is trainer Franck Alaphilippe.[35]

Career achievements

Major results

Road
2012
2nd Overall Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 2
2013
1st Grand Prix Südkärnten
Tour de l'Avenir
1st Points classification
1st Stage 7
1st Stage 3 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
4th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
5th Overall Tour de Bretagne
1st Stage 4
8th Overall Course de la Paix U23
9th Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
10th Grand Prix Královéhradeckého kraje
2014
3rd RideLondon–Surrey Classic
4th Overall Tour de l'Ain
1st Points classification
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 4
5th GP Ouest–France
2015
2nd Overall Tour of California
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 7
2nd La Flèche Wallonne
2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
5th Road race, National Road Championships
7th Amstel Gold Race
8th Clásica de San Sebastián
10th Overall Eneco Tour
2016
1st Overall Tour of California
1st Stage 3
2nd Road race, UEC European Road Championships
2nd La Flèche Wallonne
4th Road race, Olympic Games
5th Road race, National Road Championships
6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
1st Young rider classification
6th Amstel Gold Race
8th Brabantse Pijl
10th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
Tour de France
Held after Stages 2–6
Combativity award Stage 16
2017
1st Stage 8 Vuelta a España
2nd Il Lombardia
3rd Milan–San Remo
4th Overall Tour of Guangxi
1st Young rider classification
5th Overall Paris–Nice
1st Points classification
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 4 (ITT)
5th Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
1st Young rider classification
10th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
2018
1st Overall Tour of Britain
1st Stage 3
1st Overall Okolo Slovenska
1st Stage 1
1st La Flèche Wallonne
1st Clásica de San Sebastián
Tour de France
1st Mountains classification
1st Stages 10 & 16
Tour of the Basque Country
1st Stages 1 & 2
1st Stage 4 Critérium du Dauphiné
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
4th Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
7th Overall Colombia Oro y Paz
1st Stage 4
7th Amstel Gold Race
8th UCI World Tour
8th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
2019
1st Milan–San Remo
1st Strade Bianche
1st La Flèche Wallonne
Critérium du Dauphiné
1st Mountains classification
1st Stage 6
1st Stage 2 Tour of the Basque Country
2nd Overall Vuelta a San Juan
1st Stages 2 & 3 (ITT)
2nd Brabantse Pijl
4th Amstel Gold Race
5th Overall Tour de France
1st Stages 3 & 13 (ITT)
Held after Stages 3–5 & 8–18
Combativity award Overall
6th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stages 2 & 6
7th Overall Tour Colombia
1st Points classification
1st Stage 5
7th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
2020
2nd Milan–San Remo
General classification results timeline
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Giro d'Italia Has not contested during his career
Tour de France — — 41 — 33 5
Vuelta a España — — — 68 — —
Major stage race general classification results timeline
Race 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Paris–Nice — 43 — 5 18 — 16
Tirreno–Adriatico — — — — — 6
Volta a Catalunya 83 DNF DNF — — — NH
Tour of the Basque Country — — — DNF 35 DNF NH
Tour de Romandie — DNF — — — — NH
Critérium du Dauphiné 57 DNF 6 — 21 35
Tour de Suisse — — — — — — NH
Classics results timeline
Monument 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Milan–San Remo — — — 3 35 1 2
Tour of Flanders Has not contested during his career
Paris–Roubaix
Liège–Bastogne–Liège — 2 23 — 4 16
Giro di Lombardia DNF — 60 2 — —
Classic 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Strade Bianche — — — — — 1 24
Amstel Gold Race DNF 7 6 — 7 4
Brabantse Pijl 14 19 8 — — 2
La Flèche Wallonne — 2 2 — 1 1
Clásica de San Sebastián DNF 8 — — 1 DNF NH
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec 28 46 65 — — 7
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 57 60 10 — — 13
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Cyclo-cross
2009–2010
UCI Junior World Cup
1st Grand Prix Eric De Vlaeminck
3rd Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel
2nd UCI World Junior Championships
3rd National Junior Championships
2011–2012
1st National Under-23 Championships
3rd Overall UCI Under-23 World Cup
2nd Cyclo-cross Liévin
2nd Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel
Under-23 Coupe de France
1st Rodez
2012–2013
1st National Under-23 Championships
UCI Under-23 World Cup
1st Memorial Romano Scotti
3rd Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel
Under-23 Coupe de France
1st Besançon
2nd Saverne
3rd UEC European Under-23 Championships

Awards
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References
  1. "Julian Alaphilippe, Deceuninck - Quick-Step Cycling team". Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  2. Ryan, Barry (31 December 2019). "2020 Team Preview: Deceuninck-QuickStep". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. "Julian Alaphilippe change de costume" [Julian Alaphilippe changes costume]. La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 17 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  4. "Julian Alaphilippe » Omega Pharma – Quick-Step". Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  5. "Alaphilippe Wins First Pro Race of Career!". Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. OPQS Official. 16 August 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  6. Fotheringham, Alasdair (23 April 2015). "Alaphilippe fends off Flèche veterans for notable second place". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  7. Nigel Wynn (26 April 2015). "Alejandro Valverde wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2015". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Sports & Leisure network. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  8. Alasdair Fotheringham (26 April 2015). "Alaphilippe takes France's best Liège-Bastogne-Liège result since 1998". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  9. "Alaphilippe signs contract extension with Etixx-QuickStep". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  10. "Tour of California: Alaphilippe wins on Mt. Baldy". Cycling News. May 22, 2015.
  11. "Sagan wins Tour of California on time bonus". Cycling News. May 18, 2015.
  12. "Julian Alaphilippe". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  13. "Alaphilippe ends breakthrough season with mononucleosis". Cycling News. Oct 19, 2015.
  14. Stephen Farrand (12 June 2015). "Criterium du Dauphine 2016: Stage 7 Results". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  15. "2016 > 103rd Tour de France > Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  16. "France announce men's Olympic road team". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 14 July 2016.
  17. "Jeux Olympiques : Julian Alaphilippe plombé par une chute". L'Équipe. 6 Aug 2016.
  18. "Jeux Olympiques : Van Avermaet décroche la médaille d'or, Julian Alaphilippe 4e". L'Équipe. 6 Aug 2016.
  19. ""Un Paris-Nice incroyable" pour le coureur Auvergnat Julian Alaphilippe". .francetvinfo.fr (in French). 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  20. Robertshaw, Henry (18 March 2017). "Brilliant Michal Kwiatkowski edges out Peter Sagan to win Milan-San Remo 2017". Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  21. "Alaphilippe to miss the Ardennes Classics". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  22. "Knee surgery knocks Alaphilippe out of Tour de France". Cyclingnews.com. 10 May 2017.
  23. "Alaphilippe makes long awaited return to racing at GP Cerami". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 19 July 2017.
  24. "Julian Alaphilippe wins stage eight". The Guardian. 26 Aug 2017.
  25. "Alaphilippe agrees to new two-year contract with Quick-Step Floors". Cyclingnews.com. 2 Aug 2017.
  26. "Alaphilippe wins La Flèche Wallonne". www.cyclingnews.com. 18 April 2018.
  27. "Julian Alaphilippe ends Valverde dominance with powerful victory at La Flèche Wallonne 2018". www.cyclingweekly.com. 18 April 2018.
  28. "2018 Tour de France, Stage 10". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  29. "Tour de France: Alaphilippe wins in Le Grand Bornand". www.cyclingnews.com. 17 July 2018.
  30. "Tour de France 2018: Julian Alaphilippe wins stage 16 after Adam Yates crashes". BBC. 24 July 2018.
  31. "Alaphilippe sprints to his first Clásica San Sebastián win". VeloNews.com. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  32. "Julian Alaphilippe: Everyone expected me to win the Worlds". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  33. Farrand, Stephen (9 March 2019). "Alaphilippe: I made a good move at a good moment and, voila, I won Strade Bianche". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  34. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tirreno-adriatico-deceuninck-quickstep-confound-their-rivals-with-change-of-sprint-tactics/
  36. "Julian Alaphilippe élu Vélo d'or 2019". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 1 December 2019.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Kevin Mayer		 French Sportsman of the Year
2019		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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