Cycling – Tour de France – Alaphilippe: "I do not have a word"

Published July 29, 2018 at 22H30 – updated July 29, 2018 at 22H50


Rédaction Sport365

Julian Alaphilippe, what is your feeling now that you have arrived on the Champs-Elysées and that this Tour de France is over?
It is a great relief and a great achievement to have completed this Tour de France . I finish better climber with two stage wins, I do not even have a word. I'm very happy. There, I will climb on the podium, I struggle to realize. It's incredible

What does this mean to you?
It's a huge pride. Now, I just have to take advantage of this moment.

How did you experience your rise in power during these three weeks?
The polka dot jersey was not my goal on this Tour. But once I won a stage, I was a little more relaxed. I got into the game and it worked. It's not really a surprise to bring him back to Paris, because once I started to get interested, I fought very hard and almost every day for that.

Alaphilippe: " I will never forget my first stage victory "

In what state of mind were you before entering the Champs-Elysées the polka dot jersey on the shoulders?
I was just super happy to finish, and I was looking forward to being tonight (Sunday).

What is your badessment of your Tour de France?
It's amazing. I still have trouble realizing everything that has just happened. It will take a step back. Everything that happened to me was beyond my expectations, so I'm really happy

What image will you keep of your Tour?
It's hard to remember a picture of those three weeks, but it's sure that my first stage win, I'll never forget it, as I'll never forget that feeling. After, there were many moments: good, bad, difficult moments …

Alaphilippe: "Glad to have pleased people"

Win a stage on the Tour de France is it comparable to other victories that you had obtained before, like, for example, the Flèche Wallonne?
No, it is incomparable. In terms of result, it was really a goal for me to win the Flèche Wallonne, I arrived there and I am very proud of it and I know that I worked very hard for that. But to win on the Tour is hard too, but it changes everything around: people … I can not even explain it, only the Tour makes things like that. I've won a lot of races since the beginning of the season, but winning twice on the Tour, and finishing the polka dot jersey, it's completely different and even if I had won fifteen races before getting there, that's would have nothing to do. There, it really changed everything.

Do you have the feeling of enjoying a new status in the eyes of the French public?
Yes, completely. The jersey makes a lot of it, but people have appreciated my way of being and my way of running, so I'm happy to have made people happy.

With what goal will you come back next year? 19659005] The same: to rally Paris and try to win, anything (he smiles)