We will tell this race, in a few years, as the perfect counter-example of a tenacious legend concerning a supposed curse of the rainbow jersey, supposed to bring bad luck to its wearer: by hanging the champion’s tunic for the second time. of the world, the only French rider in history to have achieved such a feat, the man from Montluçon has given a scathing denial.
Julian Alaphilippe certainly had a less brilliant season this year with the tunic, but he still won the Flèche Wallonne and failed by a gut in second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Not to mention a stage victory in the Tour de France and a yellow jersey as ephemeral as it is remarkable. It is a curse that many French and foreign runners would be happy to be satisfied with.
The weight of the rainbow jersey
Should we completely erase the weight of the tunic on the shoulders? The main interested party was the first to take it into account before the race, declaring in front of the media the whole and the opposite of the same reality. “I’m happy to put this jersey on”, he confessed to our colleagues The team, Saturday September 25. “I have never taken the start of such a relaxed world championship”, He also said in front of the television cameras, in Antwerp, when he got on his bike in the direction of Leuven.
→ (RE) READ. Cycling: Julian Alaphilippe on the rainbow of his dreams
This is the second version of his speech which was confirmed on the asphalt. After spending twenty minutes shaking the peloton, he went uphill 17 km from the finish, three more than in the 2020 title, before escaping and keeping his opponents at bay. Some were visibly paralyzed by the stake and faced with the decision to go or not in pursuit of the Frenchman whom they only saw again on the top step of the podium.
Perfectly sheltered by a French team entirely devoted to its two leaders, among which was the defending champion, and the much less known Florian Sénéchal, it had a wise and tactical journey lasting 230 km. Almost quiet and relaxed, if we can thus describe 268 kilometers traveled at a hellish pace driven by a Belgian team and its Wout Van Aert locomotive a little seized.
A feat very high in the history of French cycling
This feat places him very high in the hierarchy of world runners and sport in general. Since the post-war period, only five men have inscribed their names on the world champion’s trophy two years in a row. The latest, the Slovakian Peter Sagan, did even better, having won three times in 2015, 2016 and 2017, in turn fueling the legend of the Evil Eye, since his last title corresponds to the start of his decline.
→ (RE) READ. Cycling, the historic treble of Peter Sagan
A victory for Frenchman Florian Sénéchal, another man from this in-form French team, would have been surprising rainbows, like the titles of Laurent Brochard (1997) or Luc Leblanc (1994), to store on the shelf. But that of Julian Alaphilippe is similar to the titles of Bernard Hinault or Louison Bobet, at the peak of their art when they wore the crown. It also sanctions the victory of a winning strategy by coach Thomas Voeckler, whose men started with a power-play, since the reigning world champion runs in addition to the other boys making up a selection.
His first words: “Never two without three”
The achievements of Julian Alaphilippe, man of one-day races rather than three weeks, is far from those of the hunters of great tours, but his name will henceforth remain engraved on the pediment of French cycling. Two world championship titles, in a row or not, no one other than him has done so in France since the creation of the championship in 1927, since each of the French world champions has only one crown in his salon: Georges Speicher (1933), Antonin Magne (1936), Louison Bobet (1954), André Darrigade (1959), Jean Stablinski (1962), Bernard Hinault (1980), Luc Leblanc (1994), and Laurent Brochard (1997) .
Before the departure, he proclaimed his dream of “To be as before”, that is to say take the start of a race without the obligation to honor his tunic. « For a year, I have been so keen, in each race, all the time, to honor it, that I added pressure to myself, unconsciously, and that made me make small mistakes ”, he said. He will have looked for an additional year of this happy ordeal? He even asked for more in front of France Télévisions cameras after the arrival. ” Never two without three “, he said, making an appointment for the future.
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The 2025 Worlds in Rwanda
The International Cycling Union has formalized the holding of the World Road Championships in 2025 in Rwanda, a first for the African continent. The UCI Congress, meeting on the occasion of the Worlds in Flanders, welcomed this first bride since her election in 2017 by the President of the Federation, the French David Lappartient. All other continents have already hosted the World Road Championships. After Flanders, which hosted the competitions this week, the next editions will take place in 2022 in Australia, in 2023 in Scotland and in 2024 in Switzerland.
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