After several complicated seasons due to repeated injuries and an end to the adventure with Soudal Quick-Step, Julian Alaphilippe found sensations again in 2025. The native of Saint-Amand-Montrond even won this year during the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec.
He had been waiting for this victory for over a year. So when he raised his arms during the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after reciting a tactical cycling lesson in mid-September, the puncher savored like never before. “I never got close to the podium even though it was a race that I dreamed of winning,” the Tudor rider told L’Équipe. Two days earlier, he also said, still to L’Équipe: “There are certain moments when I would have liked to be a little more present, I should have had a little more success, daring. I hoped for better in the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France, two moments of the season when I was expected. I had to remain patient because things weren’t going the way I wanted. » Despite the difficulties of recent seasons, Julian Alaphilippe never gave up, even when he seemed at the bottom of the abyss.
This victory not only did him the greatest good but allows him to continue his incredible momentum. Indeed, the puncher is on a twelve-year streak – since he became a professional – with at least one victory. Only four riders (Diego Ulissi, Alexander Kristoff, Sam Bennett and Arnaud Démare) do better. This statistic demonstrates that whatever happens to him during the season, the Frenchman knows how to bounce back perfectly at one point or another.
A year of ups and downs
As he himself said in Quebec, Julian Alaphilippe harbors regrets, particularly on the Grande Boucle (56th overall). In the Tour de France, he often fell and also had the misfortune of celebrating a victory when he had just finished third. A symbol that the bad luck of recent years had not completely left her. As during the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda with this abandonment at the start of the road race. This year, the Tudor leader did not have as many good times as he hoped for in certain races like Milan-San Remo (42nd), the Amstel Gold Race (20th), the Flèche Wallonne (22nd) or the Tour of Lombardy (23rd). The man with 45 career successes was still able to enjoy a few occasions such as the Figueira Champions Classic (8th), the Tour de Suisse (5th overall), the Tour of Great Britain (3rd overall) or even recently the Trois Vallées Varésines (3rd).
So certainly, Julian Alaphilippe did not shine as much as he would have liked but he will easily be content with that, with revenge to take next year. “He was keen to show everyone that he was still there,” admitted his partner, Marion Rousse, on Canadian TV. He put incredible pressure on himself at the end of the season, he told me this summer that he was only going to live for cycling until the end of the year, because otherwise he was going to have a very bad time not winning the season. »
