Even if his 2022 season is lined with trouble, it is not yet written that it will end in depression.
The abandonment of the double world cycling champion Julian Alaphilippe on a harmless fall during the Tour of Spain, August 31, is the latest avatar.
Sick at the start of the year, the French runner then chained falls, starting with a sun on the Strade Bianche.
He had missed the Tour de France after a serious fall ended on a tree stump in a ditch on Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The latter had caused him several fractures and had forced him to wait for long weeks.
Back on his bike in July, Julian Alaphilippe had caught the Covid on the Tour de Wallonie.
⏪ Una caída al frente del pelotón already fuera de carrera al Campeón del Mundo 🇫🇷 @alafpolak1 - @qst_alphavinyl.
🚴♂️ A crash at the front of the bunch means World Champion Julian Alaphilippe is out of the race.
¡Mucho ánimo!
🙏 Wishing him a quick recovery#LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/R3XF1GYETq
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 31, 2022
On the Vuelta, he felt that he was slowly gaining power, had put himself at the service of his leader Remco Evenepoel, before ending on the asphalt, his shoulder dislocated.
If his boss at Quick-Step, Patrick Lefevere very quickly felt that his participation in the Worlds was compromised and that he had better think about the Tour of Lombardy, Alaphilippe is now more optimistic.
If he comes, it will be without pressure
The Frenchman resumed training on the road at the start of the week.
Physically, his shoulder hurts less but he still has to find enough form to hope to shine on the Australian roads on September 25th.
Thomas Voeckler, the coach, is not really bothered by the situation when composing his selection of eight riders which must be delivered on September 12.
With his rainbow jersey, he is considered out of quota and if he were to be selected, he would be the ninth man.
There is therefore no risk for Voeckler of having to remove a runner from his selection depending on Alaphilippe's state of form.
The latter is described by a relative as “very very motivated to defend his title and take his revenge on those who have described him as being on the decline.
He knows that the course in Australia can allow him to shine again”.