Back in 2021, Julian Alaphilippe had to abandon his only Tour de Suisse appearance when he flew home for the birth of his son. Four years later, following a somewhat underwhelming start to the season with his new team, Tudor Pro Cycling, Alaphilippe returned to the race with a clear goal to chase stage victories in the final test before their first participation at the Tour de France in July.
“I’m super motivated,” he told l’Equipe before the start of the race. “I’m eager to race; it’s an important race for the team. And it’s the last big test before the Tour de France, the final stage of preparation, but it’s a race where I want to feel good. I’ve worked hard to get closer to my peak condition, so it’s an important week.”
Following a training camp in the Sierra Nevada, the 33-year-old tested out his legs in the chaotic, wet stage 1, when he followed a move by Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla) after a flurry of attacks to create a two-man breakaway on the Michaelskreuzstrasse ascent.
“It was a full-gas day, we suspected it a bit and I hadn’t necessarily planned to go in the break but the race was still full-gas in the first long climb so I followed the moves a bit,” the French star told CyclingPro at the finish.
“And after that I also made a lot of effort hoping that the group behind would come back with reinforcements and unfortunately I was a bit lonely in the group so I tried to recover as much as possible but did a lot of effort the first 40 km and it was a bit hard in the final.”
The duo continued to work together as a massive chase group organised behind them, until they were caught, forming a lead group about 30 riders. Though many teams had multiple riders in the move, Alaphilippe was solo and let the other teams set the pace.
Still, he contested both Tissot kilometre sprints, taking second each time and collecting valuable bonus seconds.
With the gap to the peloton holding steady at over two minutes, the battle for the stage win was set to be decided in the break. Inside 20km to go, Jayco’s Ben O’Connor came to the front to set a hard pace on the Michaelskreuzstrasse climb, shelling riders off the back. Alaphilippe held on and came over the Australian along with three other riders as they crested and continued on at the front.
But on the wet descent, he couldn’t match the acceleration of Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), who flew away solo to victory. Alaphilippe then found himself fighting for the remaining podium spots with Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease a Bike), ultimately crossing the line in fourth.
“I didn’t win today but I really gave my best, no regrets and I think it’s the good start of the week.
“We know that a stage like this can be chaotic, so it was always better to be one step ahead and in the end I’m happy with the day but I would really have liked to be able to play for the victory, I was a bit lacking, so well done to Romain.”
The quest for stage victories will continue over the next seven days of racing.
“We come here with this goal and I try it today. Tomorrow it’s maybe more for the sprinter, we have Marius [Mayrhofer] who is fast fast in the sprint so we will try tomorrow.”
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