“Come on daddy, come on daddy!” » At home, little Nino Alaphilippe, 3 years old, screams in front of his TV. Next to her, her mother, Marion Rousse, cannot hold back her tears of joy. By winning, in beauty and with panache, the twelfth stage of the Giro, Julian Alaphilippe did not just offer himself the 42nd success of his career. He not only entered the circle of riders who managed to win at least one stage on the three grand tours (France, Spain, Italy). And he not only put an end to a drought of eleven months and eleven days since his last victory, on June 5, 2023, at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
All these are figures that don’t say much about everything that the double world champion, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday next month, has gone through for several years: pure suffering, fear, doubts. and unhealthy pressure imposed by his own boss Patrick Lefevere.
