# julian alaphilipe



## cyberknight (26 Apr 2019)

can he morph into the tdf winner the french have been waiting for since 1986?


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## pawl (26 Apr 2019)

I have really enjoyed watching Alaphilippe and his wolf pack.As for the TDF I suppose stranger things have happened.I enjoy the one day races ,no prating around for three weeks.Tour Of The Alps was also all out racing.

Something to be said for shorter stages


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## Dayvo (26 Apr 2019)

He's got to be a dark horse. He'll be in my fantasy team.


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## nagden (26 Apr 2019)

He is certainly a talent And he is not afraid of having a go. Perhaps with a bit of luck he could pull it off.


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## Flying_Monkey (26 Apr 2019)

He seems to be more of a day-racer to short tour specialist, more like a new Valverde. Mind you, so was Thomas before last year. I think it depends a lot on the kind of support he would get - like Thomas he would have to be supported by some very strong specialist climbers in the high mountains, and be well protected by some strong lads on the long flat stages.


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## huwsparky (30 Apr 2019)

He won't win the tour, no chance.


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## KneesUp (30 Apr 2019)

I will depend a lot on the team around him. I'd say it's unlikely.


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## cyberknight (30 Apr 2019)

Yes I doubt it ATM I was thinking long term with the right team


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## Lloss (2 May 2019)

A lot depends on the statement made by the new owner of Sky/Inneos


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## Crackle (2 May 2019)

Lloss said:


> A lot depends on the statement made by the new owner of Sky/Inneos


Is this some sort of insinuation about Ineos pulling out because the team are all mediocre dopers, as you said in another thread?

He's one of the most exciting riders in years and a true gent but he'd have to change his style completely to be in GT contention and he'd need a team to support him. All possible but he won't win riding like he does now.


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## simon the viking (2 May 2019)

I've been watching him for a year or 2 

250 to 1...odds boost 325 to 2 on Ladbrokes....

Not had a fiver on him.... Honestly.... 






Leicester were 5000 to 1 and look what happened... And no I didnt back them.. Even though I'm a fan...


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## Lloss (7 May 2019)

He has a good chance if the dope checkers do there job.


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## rich p (7 May 2019)

Lloss said:


> He has a good chance if the dope checkers do there job.


a. He doesn't
b. They do
HTH


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## cyberknight (19 Jul 2019)

Was my OP prophetic or do we reckon he will crack in the final week?


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## simon the viking (19 Jul 2019)

cyberknight said:


> Was my OP prophetic or do we reckon he will crack in the final week?


Hope not!... And if he wins I owe you a BIG Drink!


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## mjr (20 Jul 2019)

cyberknight said:


> Was my OP prophetic or do we reckon he will crack in the final week?


Nah, he'll crack this weekend, sadly. Reportedly he's not spent much time at altitude and this weekend's stages do...


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## hoopdriver (20 Jul 2019)

Possibly he'll crack - but I think he has announced himself on the world stage in a big way, and next year's tour might see him better prepared and flanked by better help. That said, I think if he had Team Ineos around him right now, protecting him, and running tactics, he'd be a big chance.


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## Crackle (20 Jul 2019)

I think he'll crack. He might hold on in the Pyrenees but not the Alps, especially with all the high altitude climbs this year, I don't think he's conditioned himself for the third week, Ineos have but he's got to realize he can win this in future if he prepares.


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## Venod (20 Jul 2019)

I have picked him in my fanatisy team before, but somehow overlooked him for the tour  he has far exceeded my expectations of him, the TT win was class, 
I don't think he will hang on, but I don't think he will surrender the lead easily, in other words I have no idea, but it should make good viewing.


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## Mo1959 (20 Jul 2019)

I've always liked him so not that surprised he's doing well. He can be second to Thomas if he wants. Lol.


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## Donger (20 Jul 2019)

He's one to watch, that's for certain. Last year's King of the Mountains by a country mile and this year's best time trialler. Finished pretty well on the first mountain summit (Planche des Belles Filles) too. If he stays in yellow through the Pyrennees then a few bookies will start to get nervous. Couple that with any mishaps for main GC contenders (G does seem accident prone) and you have a recipe for a real chance of at least a podium finish.

Personally though, I'm becoming somewhat disillusioned with the "King of the Mountains" competition that he won last year. The current points system seems to reward riders who charge off half cock (Thomas Voeckler style) putting on a show of bravado and racing to the top of the first few mountains in first place, only to fade away badly. They usually get overtaken by half of the peloton before the final climb or summit finish. Just hoover up all the early points on offer, then let the GC contenders fight it out for the remaining points at the end of the stage. Do that every day in the mountains and the polka dot jersey is yours. I would suggest factoring in more points for top ten stage finishes in all mountain stages. (A bit off-track so far as this thread goes, but I put that bit in to make the point that his KOM crown might not be as significant to his GC chances as it might at first suggest).


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## iandg (20 Jul 2019)

Would be nice to see him in Yellow all the way to Paris - but don't think it will happen.


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## Fab Foodie (20 Jul 2019)

Only catching-up on the TdF (recorded highlights), just got to the rest day (yeah, also know the current standings).
Just wanted to say that this is one of the best tours I have watched for years. Some exciting stages, some daring riding from the likes of Alaphilipe, De Ghent and others. No really dominant sprinters and Ineos not in the same dominant form as a team.
Would love to see Alaphilipe triumph!


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## Venod (20 Jul 2019)

Donger said:


> Personally though, I'm becoming somewhat disillusioned with the "King of the Mountains"



I have to agree with you about the KOM competition, I used to regard it above the points competition, but it seems to have dimished in importance to me, it does need something to spice it up.


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## mjr (20 Jul 2019)

Crackle said:


> [...] I don't think he's conditioned himself for the third week, Ineos have but he's got to realize he can win this in future if he prepares.


I feel that the term "prepares" is forever tainted by dopers for me now.


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## Beebo (20 Jul 2019)

Afnug said:


> I have to agree with you about the KOM competition, I used to regard it above the points competition, but it seems to have dimished in importance to me, it does need something to spice it up.


It’s a tricky one for the organisers, they have to offer big points to the early hills to animate the race. 
In 2015 Froome won the polka dot and yellow, presumably because they weighed the points in favour of the big summit finishes.


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## Crackle (20 Jul 2019)

mjr said:


> I feel that the term "prepares" is forever tainted by dopers for me now.


True. There are already dissenters talking about his performance in this race. I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind.


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## nagden (21 Jul 2019)

He Was my tip early on. I just hope he proves his doubters wrong. It makes a Nice change to see someone different.


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## IanSmithCSE (21 Jul 2019)

Good morning,



Crackle said:


> True. There are already dissenters talking about his performance in this race. I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind.



I have been trying to make sense of Ketone drinks, apparently they were funded by DARPA and created at Oxford University hardly a combination of "nutty health food wierdos" :-).

The rules are quite clear that they are legal and some teams are reported to have stated that they are using them and there are some other arguments they may or may not be suitable for use in the TDF.

I didn't really know much about JA before looking him up but he does have a good history so perhaps his current team have prepared him better, he has just got a bit better with age and experience and perhaps these drinks do work.

*A recent study published by Peter Hespel, a Belgian sports science researcher who works with the WorldTour Quickstep cycling team, has demonstrated the effect that liquid ketone bodies can have on recovery. The subjects conducted an intense training camp of three weeks to simulate the load and duration of a competition like the Tour de France.

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections...are-the-tour-de-frances-top-teams-using-them/*

From last year

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling...-riders-ready-fuel-ketones-mysterious-energy/

Bye

Ian


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## smutchin (21 Jul 2019)

Flying_Monkey said:


> He seems to be more of a day-racer to short tour specialist, more like a new Valverde. Mind you, so was Thomas before last year.



I always knew Thomas was a potential GT winner from early in his career - I said (to anyone who would listen) when Sky launched that they should focus on him rather than Wiggins. His problem was that because he was brought up through the BC system with its focus on Olympic medals, he wasted too many of his prime years fannying about on the track. OK, so that might partly have been wishful thinking but once he put his mind to it, and really started to believe in himself as a top road racer, he came good for me. Of course, he also had a huge amount of luck with other elements of the race going in his favour last year - but no one ever won the Tour without a bit of luck on their side.

Alaphilippe has had that luck so far this year, with Froome out, Quintana and Nibali passengers, Pinot having his standard bad day to lose time on an innocuous stage, and no other stand-out contenders. Thomas seems to be a diminishing force and Valverde is looking positively geriatric.

He has only been a one-day specialist and stage hunter so far because that's how the team is set up, but he clearly has the raw talent, and is a genuine all-rounder. He also has a pure racer's instinct. All it will take for him to win a GT is applying that instinct to a different style of racing (ie looking at the long game rather than individual stages) and getting a team of first-class GT-specialist domestiques to support him (and maybe a DS who understands how to win a GT). As others have said, a bit of altitude training probably wouldn't hurt either.

I'm rooting for him to do it. (Although I'm a bit torn because I also want Pinot to win. Those two on the top two steps of the podium would make me very happy in either order.)


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## smutchin (21 Jul 2019)

Donger said:


> Personally though, I'm becoming somewhat disillusioned with the "King of the Mountains" competition that he won last year. The current points system seems to reward riders who charge off half cock (Thomas Voeckler style) putting on a show of bravado and racing to the top of the first few mountains in first place, only to fade away badly. They usually get overtaken by half of the peloton before the final climb or summit finish. Just hoover up all the early points on offer, then let the GC contenders fight it out for the remaining points at the end of the stage.



I dunno. I think these minor jerseys only justify their existence if they're won by someone other than the overall winner, and the format allows someone to go for glory who doesn't have a genuine shot at GC. The polka dots in particular encourage flamboyant, exciting racing - I always had mixed feelings about Voeckler but there's no doubt he was a popular rider.

Also giving the lie to your assessment is the fact that Alaphilippe won two stages last year, one of which featured two 1st category climbs, the other three 1st cat and an HC. He was a thoroughly deserving winner of the spotty jumper.

Besides which, all the HC climbs above 2000m are given double points this year, which weights the competition towards the true climbing specialists, and against those who go points-harvesting on cat 3 & 4 climbs. Wellens currently leads the classification on 64 points, but over stages 18, 19 and 20, there are four HC climbs, worth a potential 160 points, so I don't think we'll be seeing him in the polka dots in Paris (though presumably one of the GC boys will take the win on Val Thorens, so more realistically 120 points for someone like Ciccone or Barguil to go for to make the title his - or maybe Bardet has been sandbagging so far, taking it easy in the knowledge that he could still win the polka dots with a flourish on the final three stages).


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## Fab Foodie (21 Jul 2019)

JA is creeping ahead on the big hills....as GT ebbs....


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## david k (21 Jul 2019)

JA looked strong in today's stage, he also looked fresh in his interviews, it gives me the impression he has the energy to complete the race at this top end effort

GT looked spent mentally, emotionally and physically. He need to turn that round to have a chance, fingers crossed


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## smutchin (21 Jul 2019)

david k said:


> GT looked spent mentally, emotionally and physically.



Going by what he said in his post-race interview, I think he's got some kind of illness.


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## rich p (21 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


> I always knew Thomas was a potential GT winner from early in his career - I said (to anyone who would listen) when Sky launched that they should focus on him rather than Wiggins. His problem was that because he was brought up through the BC system with its focus on Olympic medals, he wasted too many of his prime years fannying about on the track. )


You did, it's true. 
I recall us both whingeing about G wasting another year pursuing another futile gold medal.
Julian Alaphillipe also needs to stop being Viviani's lead out man if he's to take the GC seriously. Unless it's á la Wiggo on the Champs Elysée!


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## smutchin (21 Jul 2019)

It's hugely gratifying when these long-term predictions/guesses come to fruition - makes it look like you know what you're talking about. 

It'll be interesting to see if Alaphilippe's success so far this year leads to a bit of a recalibration of the team. Viviani already looks disaffected and like he wants out.


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## smutchin (21 Jul 2019)

Interesting stat: the last rider to win both Milan-Sanremo and the Tour in the same year was Eddy himself, who did it three times (1969, 1971, 1972).

Fignon and Nibali have won both, but not in the same year.


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## david k (21 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


> Going by what he said in his post-race interview, I think he's got some kind of illness.


That did cross my mind


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## Fab Foodie (21 Jul 2019)

rich p said:


> You did, it's true.
> I recall us both whingeing about G wasting another year pursuing another futile gold medal.
> Julian Alaphillipe also needs to stop being Viviani's lead out man if he's to take the GC seriously. Unless it's á la Wiggo on the Champs Elysée!


Also he needs to curb his enthusiasm!
Pinot impressed. Climbs well for a big guy.


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## smutchin (22 Jul 2019)

Fab Foodie said:


> Also he needs to curb his enthusiasm!



Yep. Kelly's take on the reason for him blowing up on the final climb yesterday was that he went too hard at the start. 

He could have done with a couple of domestiques too.


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## ColinJ (22 Jul 2019)

Fab Foodie said:


> Pinot impressed. Climbs well for a big guy.


I was thinking the same. He looks quite big but he is actually only 5' 11" tall and weighs just under 10 stone. Big compared to typical climbers maybe, but not another Indurain.


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## KneesUp (22 Jul 2019)

Is it just me that thinks Pinaut's stubble permanently give him the look of someone who had to fix something oily on his 2CV on the way to the trace?


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## cyberknight (22 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


> It's hugely gratifying when these long-term predictions/guesses come to fruition - makes it look like you know what you're talking about.
> 
> It'll be interesting to see if Alaphilippe's success so far this year leads to a bit of a recalibration of the team. Viviani already looks disaffected and like he wants out.


I think this is where he we fail,the team isn't really built for GC support


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## Pale Rider (22 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


> Viviani already looks disaffected and like he wants out.



I get the impression what Viviani wants is a more lucrative contract which he believes would be on offer elsewhere.


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## brommers (22 Jul 2019)

KneesUp said:


> Pinaut's


Is he a cross between Pinot and Hinault?


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## mjr (24 Jul 2019)

Pale Rider said:


> I get the impression what Viviani wants is a more lucrative contract which he believes would be on offer elsewhere.


Which is also the reason Dee coo Nick are unlikely to become a GC team: they just don't have the budget, so aim to play Moneyball with the classics, which Lefevre has done well for years.

If JA wants to go for GC... well, when does his contract end?


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## smutchin (25 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


> maybe Bardet has been sandbagging so far, taking it easy in the knowledge that he could still win the polka dots with a flourish on the final three stages





smutchin said:


> I was joking, but the way he went up the first big climb today, I'm now starting to wonder if there might be something in this...


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## Dogtrousers (25 Jul 2019)

smutchin said:


>


That would go down well in the Trousers household. He's my wife's favourite (after St Cav, of course)


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## DRM (25 Jul 2019)

So does the CC massive think that Allaphillipe will be getting a hand from other French riders regardless of team from now on?


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## Paulus (26 Jul 2019)

He looked a broken man when getting into the team car after today's truncated stage. Shame, he has been one of the riders to illuminate this years race.


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## Dogtrousers (26 Jul 2019)

He's still got his belle collection!

When he said "qoi qu'il arrive" (whatever happens) I bet he didn't guess quoi would actually arrive!


View: https://twitter.com/alafpolak1/status/1154682137687339008?s=19


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## normgow (26 Jul 2019)

What I would love to see is for Patrick Lefevere to tell his boys to attack on the last stage to Paris and to blow the "unwritten rule" up to where it belongs. The Quick Step Team should be able to rip the field to shreds, especially if helped out by teams who have riders in the first six who would benefit. In 1947 Jean Robic won the Tour with a similar action and I think France would appreciate something similar this year.


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## DRM (26 Jul 2019)

Paulus said:


> He looked a broken man when getting into the team car after today's truncated stage. Shame, he has been one of the riders to illuminate this years race.


I thought the same, Egan Bernal was amazing on the Col de L’Iseran, it’s definitely been an intriguing race this year, I thought surely they can’t race down that, when the cameras showed the result of the hailstorm, then the mudslide sealed it, so I think to answer my own question, no they won’t, not now, also sad to see Pinot abandoning the race too.
It’s been a very good, impossible to guess what would happen next, race for the viewers.


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## DRM (26 Jul 2019)

normgow said:


> What I would love to see is for Patrick Lefevere to tell his boys to attack on the last stage to Paris and to blow the "unwritten rule" up to where it belongs. The Quick Step Team should be able to rip the field to shreds, especially if helped out by teams who have riders in the first six who would benefit. In 1947 Jean Robic won the Tour with a similar action and I think France would appreciate something similar this year.


I think if they did, it would be suicidal for the team, they will get shut down, at the next race if they need help, others will just destroy them when they are down.


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## Dogtrousers (26 Jul 2019)

It would be great to see, but it would never work, so no real point.


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## StuAff (26 Jul 2019)

When was the last time the last stage was competitive for GC? 1989. Fignon beaten into second. Enough said. 

And, FFS, it's a sprint stage. If anyone else tried to make a serious attack, the sprint trains would shut them down faster than a TGV.


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## Aravis (27 Jul 2019)

StuAff said:


> *When was the last time the last stage was competitive for GC? 1989.* Fignon beaten into second. Enough said.
> 
> And, FFS, it's a sprint stage. If anyone else tried to make a serious attack, the sprint trains would shut them down faster than a TGV.


But that's not the last time the winner has been gapped and lost time to the guy in second. Sastre in 2008 is one I remember.


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## david k (27 Jul 2019)

david k said:


> JA looked strong in today's stage, he also looked fresh in his interviews, it gives me the impression he has the energy to complete the race at this top end effort
> 
> GT looked spent mentally, emotionally and physically. He need to turn that round to have a chance, fingers crossed



Well my assumption was right, right up until the last two competitive stages  he did crack but what an effort he put up until he cracked

And GT did better than I thought, it was a great plan from Ineos


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## mjr (1 Dec 2019)

He's won the Vélo d'Or https://www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20191201_01414084/julian-alaphilippe-elu-velo-d-or-2019


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