If I could only pick one more race to win, it would be the Tour de France, says Julian Alaphilippe – Sports News , Firstpost

File image of Julian Alaphilippe, AFP

After winning the 2020 UCI Road World Championships, cyclist Julian Alaphilippe has admitted that the Tour de France is the race he would want to win the most.

During a recent interview, Alaphilippe was asked if he had the chance of winning only one race which one would it be?

Alaphilippe in reply said, “After winning the World Championships, I would definitely like to win the Tour de France. It’s the two races that have always made me dream. If there was only one race to win, it would be the Tour.”

Alaphilippe who won the world championship in September also reflected on his victory in the interview to Eurosport France’s Bistrot Vélo.

“To be World Champion is a goal I have set myself throughout my career. Not necessarily at the beginning, but the more the years went by, the more I told myself that I could. I continued to progress, I learned from my failures, from my mistakes. Year after year, we would arrive at the World Championships with ambitions, each time with a very strong team, and it worked. Making your dream come true is special! I learned to channel myself, to make the effort at the right time. On this point it is undeniable, I have passed a milestone and it has helped me to win big races. At the World Championships in Imola, that was all I had in mind and we had a team that was built around it. Everyone played the game and it worked well, so it’s a satisfaction, happiness. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

He further added, “It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. You want to escape, you also want to take advantage of this state of euphoria, but at the same time, I immediately went on to the Classics which also remained an important objective for the end of my season. I was ready, I was motivated for the Classics and with the World Champion jersey, it was an additional motivation. So I didn’t necessarily have the time to come back down and enjoy my jersey because I was already thinking about the Classics.”

Alaphilippe also spoke about the massive accident on the 2020 Tour of Flanders which saw him collide with a motorbike and ruling him out of the competition. He went head over heels with his bike flying into the air, as he hit the deck, then screaming out in pain as medics rushed over to treat him.

“I don’t blame Van der Poel, Van Aert or the bike at all. I don’t blame anybody and I don’t even blame myself because I didn’t do anything wrong even if you can say that I was talking on the radio, where they often say that I look behind. Honestly, at that moment I couldn’t do anything. These are race facts. Van Aert goes to get the bike’s suction, Van der Poel avoids it at the last moment and he doesn’t warn me, but I can’t blame him: we are in the final of the Tour of Flanders and we don’t necessarily think about warning of everything he passes on the road. I am the one who has taken it, that’s how it is. There is no excuse to find an excuse. You have to bounce back.”