Julian Alaphilippe He is a cyclist who you always have to love. He doesn’t care where he was born because he is already a bicycle legendan idol for anyone who not only loves this sport, but also tries to enjoy the spectacle and especially the runners who become artists, those who choose the day and the place to attack and perform a feat in one of the stages of the Giro most enjoyable so far.
It didn’t matter that Tadej Pogacar once again showed its most conservative face because the party was ahead, because it was the day in which Alaphilippe would re-emerge after two years of riding with uncertainty and after earning criticism even from the management – never from his teammates – of his team. Because it was the third time he tried it and Pelayo Sánchez was not there to spoil the party and leave him without the prize of victory; the one he achieved this Thursday after a long, brave and extraordinary escape, which in the initial phase had the support of the Italian runner Mirco Masters.
It was not an ordinary day because sometimes it is not necessary to make big climbs, but rather leave everything on slopes that left the peloton breathless, with an air that changed direction but that propelled the bikes so that Alaphilippe crossed the finish line at a magnificent average of 46.8 kilometers per hour; outrageous, when he rode a good part of the scheduled 193 kilometers only with the help of Mastersthe last ten solo.
It was a day marked in red by a runner who until now I had never won in the Giro, for six victories in the Tour and one in the Vuelta. He was an Alaphilippe who at 31 years old was already condemned by some for supposedly having lost the spark that drove him to win the world championship twice and to be on the verge of taking victory in the 2019 Tour.
But Alaphilippe He had not left, but was preparing for a solo Giro victory after releasing at the beginning of a slope that reached 20% at Mastershis faithful escape companion and from there seek victory by leaving the cyclist alive from the chase led by the Ecuadorian runner Jhonatan Narváez, second at the finish line and first leader of this Giro
And, above all, to vindicate themselves before Patrick Lefeverethe manager of Soudal, his team, who at the beginning of the season exposed alleged dirty laundry to the press by ensuring that Alaphilippe was more into the party than the training sessions, which caused the indignation of the runner’s partner, Marion Rousseformer cyclist, model, Tour commentator for French television and director of the women’s Tour, who came out in defense of her partner and father of her son.
It was a mess, surely unfair for the runner, who Alaphilippe He responded with leaks in this Giro to show that he still has to write many pages of glory in a sport where he is one of the best world figures.
2024-05-16 15:05:22
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