Julian Alaphilippe has won the Road World Championships men’s road race in Imola, following a solo attack.
The French rider took flight on the final ascent of the Cima Gallisterna, leaving behind an already elite selection and carrying a small gap over the summit. He was able to press his advantage and establish a gap of 15 seconds or thereabouts, which did not diminish over the final 10 kilometres.
“It’s really hard for me to say something at this moment,” Alaphilippe said after his victory. “I want to say thank you to all my teammates who really believed in me today. Everybody did a great job.”
“It was always a dream for me in my career,” he continued in tears. “Already sometimes I was so close and was never on the podium. And now, I came here with a lot of ambition and pfftt.. it’s just a dream day for me.”
“I want to thank my team for all the effort they put in, to [national coach] Thomas Voeckler for the confidence he showed in me, and my family, friends, and my partner. This is a dream for my career.”
“It was a perfect race from start to finish, we respected perfectly what we said at the briefing,” said Alaphilippe’s teammate Guillaume Martin. “We had planned to harden the race in the final two or three laps and then to follow, to accompany the blows.”
