"I could not have endured spending my month of July suffering, just being there because it makes people happy", Julian Alaphilippe explains

A heartbreak.

Eighteen times wearing the yellow jersey and winner of six stages, Julian Alaphilippe will not be at the start of the Tour this Saturday in Copenhagen (Denmark).

The tricolor world champion had however made a convincing return to competition this Sunday during the French Championships by finishing 13th and contributing to the coronation of his teammate Florian Sénéchal but this performance proved insufficient.

Alaphilippe was therefore not selected by his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team to participate in the Grande Boucle because the Belgian team does not consider him to have recovered sufficiently from his violent fall during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which had earned him multiple injuries: pneumothorax, three fractured ribs and a scapula.

Read also“He could neither move nor breathe”: broken ribs and fractured scapula for Julian Alaphilippe

In an interview granted this Monday to the Team, the French champion confides in the reasons for this non-participation in the Tour.

“There was a big part of me that hoped to do it, that thought it was possible.

But the other part was much more realistic because I know how hard this race is, what it demands.

Over the past three years, I have always taken to the start of the Tour in full possession of my faculties.

There, I feel tired, diminished.

I don't know if I could have been competitive over three weeks.

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The native of Saint-Amand-Montrond is not angry with his team for not having selected him among the eight riders.

" I understand.

Yesterday (Sunday), at the French Championship, I really suffered when I was in a supporting role.

On the Tour, I couldn't have afforded to stay warm in the peloton.

I couldn't bear to spend my month of July suffering, just being there because it makes people happy.

I would have liked to be efficient but I am too limited.

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“You can't do anything, you don't control anything anymore.

You almost see yourself leaving”

Asked about his fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Julian Alaphilippe returned to the circumstances.

“I remember the sound of the impact.

What struck me the most was the fact of being in respiratory distress, of feeling this thing that invades you… (he stops) You can't do anything, you can't control anything anymore.

You almost see yourself leaving… It moves me to talk about it again.

I haven't done much to move on, not to stir up this pain, this shock.

In addition, no one had seen me in the ditch, apart from Romain (Bardet) who tried to help me when he saw my condition.

I will be eternally grateful to him for his gesture towards me.

Going back to all that, it still does something to me today…”

The French champion pursues.

"I'm not the same as before, that's for sure.

Before this fall, I had already experienced a very complicated sporting year, I was not always where I wanted to be physically.

There were a lot of setbacks, I was sick, I fell three times, I asked myself a lot of questions.

This fall in Liège added to all this and left its mark.

It's by far the biggest of my career, it changed a lot of things.

She's part of me, she's the reason I'm like this now.

I have changed, I take things differently.

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The winner of Milan - San Remo in 2019 then talks about his difficult recovery.

“I didn't even want to think about the bike.

The ribs that had punctured my lung stayed broken for a long time.

The first two weeks were very painful, for sleeping, for everything.

I watched TV a lot, I enjoyed my little one (Nino), it was difficult because I couldn't even carry him.

I was able to count on Marion (Rousse, his partner).

They helped me hold my head up high.

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Deprived of the Tour, he hopes for a radiant end to the season where he will try to run for a third world title in a row in Australia.

“I'm going to develop a program with Franck and go on an internship in Livigno (Italy).

After that, I want to find pleasure and victories.

I want bad luck to leave me alone.

I want to brush off these last six months, move on.

I want to be the real Julian again.

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