A Perfect World Champion
I don’t think there was a dry eye – well, perhaps not in Belgium – in the house after Julian Alaphilippe won the World Championship Road Race in Imola. The Frenchman, whose exciting racing style and ebullient personality has garnered him fans all across the world, will quite possibly become the most popular World Champion in cycling history. He is an absolutely deserving champion, as his stints in the Yellow Jersey and Classic’s victories prove, a champion who will elevate the sport both through his charm and his rage-fueled racing style. A rage that has roots in his upbringing in a HLM (Habitation à Loyer Modéré), or, as we call them here in New York, Housing Projects. As Julian Alaphilippe put it, speaking of his efforts after winning Milano-Sanremo last year, “Nothing can hurt me more than what I’ve already lived through in my life.”
His father Jo, who passed away three months ago, was a musician, sometimes home, sometimes not, and while young Julian and his two brothers had food and clothes, there was not much more in what appears to have been a bohemian existence. As with all kids in those circumstances, young Julian would make do with what he could find. One favored activity was descending, at speed, the internal staircases of the HLM on a brake-less BMX bike, laying the foundation for the remarkable descending skills we see from him today. He left school early, took an apprenticeship as a bicycle mechanic and from there made his way into the racing world. “I started with absolutely nothing, “ was how Alaphilippe put it upon receiving the prestigious Vèlo d’Or award for the 2019 season, which is why I consider him such a perfect champion for our sport. Cycling, like boxing, has traditionally been an escape, a path to a better life for someone willing to take the risks and live the monastic life required. I love the fact that Julian Alaphilippe forged his way from the Projects up to the Rainbow Jersey, reviving French cycling in the process and making us all feel good about our sport. I hope that his example will encourage federations and clubs to work towards giving many other young kids, ones growing up in less-than-perfect circumstances, a pathway out, a chance to live the beautiful life of a racing cyclist. The goal is not Olympic medals or championships, the goal is to get kids, like young Julian, on bikes. Do that, and the medals and championships will fall into place.
The French team was on fire at the Pro Worlds. The Swiss and Danes had controlled the race up until 70-kilometers to go, when two Frenchmen who’d been prominent at the recent Tour de France, the unsung Quentin Pacher and “I’m just a hard-working guy” Nan Peters, hit the front and crushed it up the Cima Gallisterna climb, igniting the race and splitting the field. The French effort lasted for about 15-kilometers, and when the team began to fade, the oh-so powerful looking Belgians took over the pace making. The French, however, still had cards to play.
The Slovenian team had been strong the entire day, ever-present on the front. When Pacher and Peters began their number on the climb, Pogačar, who’d just come back from a bike change, went right up to the front with them, matching their efforts with an eye on his teammate Primoz Roglič, showing that any hard feelings after Roglič’s loss of the Tour were being repaid by a complete Slovenian team effort on his behalf. Pogačar, now that he has a Tour in the pocket, and can race the rest of his – just starting! - career without any pressures, flew up the Gallisterna climb, leaving the field in full panic behind, and with Roglič protected, hammered on alone holding off the Belgians for over 20-kilometers in a beautiful display of open racing that harkened back to former times. Once caught, just before the final ascension of the Mazzolano climb with 20-k to go in the race, everything exploded under pressure from the Italians, who’d been lurking the entire race, but it was the clever French who came back to the front to shut things down. Again the French, now in the person of philosopher Guillaume Martin, attacked the final time up the 2.7-K Cima Gallisterna, forcing the others to chase, setting Alaphilippe up for his springboard to victory. Alaphilippe, who has perfected his explosive uphill attacks through repetitions at the Tour, Milano Sanremo and the Flèche Wallonne, put his practice to perfect use, making that move that everyone knew was coming, yet again could do nothing about. He leapt up the climb, shedding everyone, had 17-kilometers between himself and a World Championship, and there was nothing – not an exhausted Roglič nor a powerful Wout van Aert – that anyone could do to stop him.
At the finish, clutching his trade team boss Patrick Lefevere, Julian Alaphilippe asked him over and over again: “Are you proud of me? Are you proud of me?” All of that childhood hurt, the hands-off parenting, those rough, tough times all came bubbling up to the surface displaying the deep, powerful emotions that drive him.
One can’t help but wishing Julian Alaphilippe well. He gives us so much pleasure, and now, in knowing a bit more about him, one begins to root for him, for his success and most of all, for his happiness. It’s so rare when Cinderella stories as his come true, and when they do, they are to be treasured, as the cycling world treasures Julian Alaphilippe, our World Champion.