Animated, fingers pointing here and there, head bobbing around, Julian Alaphilippe, with his neatly trimmed goatee and well-manicured hair, is embodying his compatriot Thibaut Pinot and speaking from the heart; he’s emulating his fellow Frenchman Guillaume Martin’s philosophical tones; and he’s echoing Romain Bardet’s pragmatism and perspective. Put the quartet in a room together and you have four wannabee scholars. “Maybe it’s part of our personality,” he says of the French’s romanticised view of cycling. “But also how we see, imagine and do cycling. For some others, they do it more for numbers, but I love this side of not knowing.” He pauses, looks to the sky and makes circular shapes with his fingers, as if composing a play. “Wow, wow, why do this, fuck, this is nice, you know, this is nice,” he says. “One side is clinical, execution, records, but I tell you it’s boring. It’s boring, I tell you. The people, the fans, they will say the same.”
Alaphilippe is speaking with feel. A lot of it. The last few seasons have not been vintage Loulou years. He’s gone from the top of the sport, a repeat world champion, to being ostracised by his Soudal–Quick-Step team boss of 11 years, and now relegating himself down a division to Tudor Pro Cycling. He enjoyed a mildly successful 2024, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia with his typical panache and bravado and swagger, but to many he’s past his best before date; he’s used goods. Alaphilippe, though, just shrugs his shoulders. So what if they’ve written him off.
Image by Zac Williams/SWPix
“Of course they have, especially if you look at social media, but I don’t care,” he says. “I always realised that when you win you’re the best, and when you lose you are shit. All the bad energy and bad comments, I don’t care. It’s maybe easy to say and hard to do, but for me I know what is important in life: I will never give importance to this because I know how hard it is to fight on the bike, how hard it is to be on your best level. A few comments on the internet will not change this. I was always super humble, so even when I was on my best level, or like they say a part of the big six, I never considered myself among the best. I was just giving everything I could, you know.”
The 32-year-old is an entertainer – always has been, always will be. “The type of panache that I have, it’s how I am. It’s not a game. It’s not something I do for the cameras. I love to race like this. The biggest [change in cycling] is that there’s less space for instinct, for joy, for happiness. It’s more about calculations. Some guys you can see, and it makes me sad to see, when they finish the race they don’t care what happened or where they finished. They just look at how many watts they pushed, or they broke a five-minute [power] record. This for me is not cycling. Cycling is making the races.”
Cycling is also winning, though, and Tudor signed Alaphilippe on a three-year contract to win bike races. “I’m always optimistic and I am super motivated about this season,” he says. “I felt it was the moment to be part of something that motivates me in a different way. I feel I have the space here to be a leader, the way I was.” He missed out on the Tour de France last year, but he should be back this season – providing Tudor, as they hope, are invited. “The dream is to be in the Tour,” he says.
Six years ago at the 2019 Tour, having already stolen French hearts, he went back, robbed them for a second time and then broke them, dramatically losing the yellow jersey on stage 19. He remained at the top of the sport in the succeeding years, winning his two rainbow jerseys in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022 the crashes came, the form dipped and expectations nose-dived.
Image by James Startt
“I know I can be better, but I also know one time I'll be less strong. Crashes happen, sickness, personal problems, this and that, and then you’re not anymore in the best three or in the best six, but you don’t care because your fight is somewhere else,” he says. “And then you try to work hard day after day to come back to be the best of me and myself, not to be the best or in the top six.” But not being at the peak of his powers did sting. “Of course, during this time it’s not easy because you’re a winner, you’re a fighter,” he goes on. “I’m the guy who loves to attack, to make the race, to create something, and when you can’t anymore it’s not easy, but you have to keep believing like you can do it, that you can come back. It’s not easy, it will take time.”
It is said that when sprinters leave Soudal–Quick-Step, they never again reach the same level of success. Is Alaphilippe conscious of the same trend happening to him, even if he’s a puncheur, a rouleur, a climber, a one-time GC rider, a jack of all trades and not a thoroughbred fastman? “It’s true, it’s a fact that for some riders it was difficult. It’s hard to stay on top especially when you change teams, but I don’t think about this,” he says “I feel like I am fresh, motivated, so excited to be happy. If I don’t perform, I will be disappointed about myself, but not about the team. I do my best, I will give my best, and I will have no regret, I tell you. I am sure about this.”
