The curtain has nearly fallen on Julian Alaphilippe’s Soudal Quick-Step career, but the Frenchman has no intention of simply stepping away from the limelight quietly. Alaphilippe is determined to end his time in blue and white with a bang, starting with the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montréal in Canada later this week.
When the organisers of the two Canadian WorldTour races held a press briefing with the lead riders on Wednesday, Alaphilippe had no qualms in admitting that he had arrived in North America fatigued. Although given the relentless nature of the recent Tour of Britain Men, and difficult weather conditions in northern England, it is no wonder that he was feeling it on arrival.
"It was a really hard week of racing at the Tour of Britain," Alaphilippe explained in Canada. "We went really full gas all of the week, so I don't have memories of coming here from such a hard week before. It's important to recover as much as I can now to give my best [at the weekend]. I flew Monday, the day after the race, straight from the UK."
The former two-time World Champion has enjoyed a new lease of life in his final year with the team, which peaked with a solo stage win from the breakaway at the Giro d'Italia in May.
Alaphilippe confirmed that another Italian race, Il Lombardia, would be his final outing as a Quick-Step rider later this Autumn and made clear that he felt he still had one big win in the legs before he departs for Tudor Pro Cycling and pastures new in 2025.
"I'm really focused on every race that's coming until my last one in Lombardy. So I enjoy it even more, I think, because I really realised that every race is one day closer than from the end,” he said. “It's my goal to try to win something again. But there is less and less opportunity now, so I hope I will. It's my goal until the end, and I will do everything I can for that."
Alaphilippe has spent ten years in Quick-Step colours and amassed a huge number of victories riding for Patrick Lefevere’s team. As well as winning stages in all three Grand Tours, the Frenchman has won Milan-San Remo, Strade Bianche and the Clásica San Sebastián and won back to back world titles in Italy and Belgium in 2020 and 2021.
He has won six individual stages of the Tour, with one of the most notable coming while wearing the rainbow jersey as world champion in Landerneau in 2021. Nevertheless, Alaphililippe said that he was thinking more about the people he will leave behind when he departs at the end of the year.
"It's difficult to say one thing, because it's not only 10 years of my career, it's 1/3 of my life,” he said when asked what he would miss the most about Quick-Step. “Of course, there were ups and downs, but I always enjoyed it, and always loved the time I had in the team.
"So this is what I will miss the most, the staff and my teammates, but at the end, it's also good to have so many memories for me and for them. But it's also life, it is good timing for me to have a new environment and to see something new now."
Before getting back to winning ways in May, Alaphilippe had endured a difficult spell in which injury and illness got in the way of him being able to consistently perform. His Giro win in Fano, however, was Alaphilippe personified. The 32-year-old was back to the aggressive racing style which had previously landed him the world title in Imola and Leuven.
When asked if the Giro result was confirmation that he was back to his best, Alaphilippe wouldn’t be drawn either way. Instead, he said that he was just pleased to be able to enjoy racing again after coming out the other side.
He said: "Am I back to my best shape? I don't know, but I've got good shape. I enjoy racing. I'm able to fight for the victory in the final… When you do everything you can, you just fight against a bad moment. You just know that one moment it will turn."
