Julian Alaphilippe: "I said to myself, damn, the idiot, he did it" Julian Alaphilippe: "I said to myself, damn, the idiot, he did it"

CyclingChM (H) from the newspaper

The day after his feat, the double world champion looked back on his victory and the tension between the relief of leaving the rainbow jersey and the burning desire to win it back.

Julian Alaphilippe, rage and joy mixed, Sunday in Louvain, just after crossing the line as the winner. (F. Mons/L'Équipe)CyclismeChM (H)from the newspaper

The day after his feat, the double world champion looked back on his victory and the tension between the relief of leaving the rainbow jersey and the burning desire to win it back.

Philippe Le Gars and Alexandre Roos, in Louvain updated on September 28, 2021 at 12:12 a.m.comment

On the phone late Monday afternoon, the voice is broken, it could not resist the high notes of the words of the Connemara Lakes, and Julian Alaphilippe tastes the sweet euphoria that rocks him and the return to what he calls normal life. “It's nappies, bottles, dishes! ", he laughs when the day after his victory in Louvain, he finds his son Nino, aged three and a half months, and is about to spend a few days with his family before honoring his again the rainbow jersey at Milan-Turin, next week, then at the Tour of Lombardy, on October 9. "I don't quite realize yet," he mutters. I read L'Équipe this morning (Monday), I cried. The fatigue, the emotion, it left me. This dream, I had it in the back of my mind, but I was almost relieved to leave the jersey. It's weird. The double world champion looks back on his masterpiece.