Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) was not resiling from the truth that the final two seasons have not been what he hoped for as he spoke to the media earlier than taking up the Tour Down Beneath, however the Frenchman made it clear that the race will mark an early begin to his effort to show that round.
“I really feel good, I really feel relaxed,” stated Alaphilippe, who actually lookied it as he swapped asides with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who was seated to his proper. “I had a straightforward winter with none issues. I didn’t prepare too laborious and I’ve additionally not too dangerous form.
“I really feel actually able to race and I hope to enhance my form for the subsequent month, it might be essential for racing in Belgium, however we’re centered on right here first and I feel it’s a lovely race to start out the season.”
The French rider final lined up on the Tour Down Beneath proper on the very begin of his skilled profession in 2014. This time round, he finds himself taking the beginning line at one other essential juncture in his profession. His present contract expires on the of 2024, and he has claimed simply two wins in every of the previous two seasons, having missed the mark on a few of his large targets.
The 2-time world champion has modified round his first a part of the season, launching into the warmth of an Australian summer season with hopes the group can proceed the profitable begin delivered by the AG Insurance coverage-Soudal girls’s group, which took two of the three phases and general victory on the girls’s Tour Down Beneath.
“We have now a extremely good group to benefit from the race, to attempt to win one thing even when we don’t have any strain now as a result of the ladies received their race,” he stated with a chuckle.
However does that make him one of many favourites on the Australian six stage race?
“I don’t know,” stated Alaphilippe. “For certain I’m motivated to do my finest. You by no means know the way you’ll really feel in the course of the first race of the season. It is going to be the primary large effort and likewise with the warmth you must watch out. I feel it is a vital 12 months for me to attempt to come again on my finest stage and I’ll give my finest. I’ve no stress, I simply wish to take pleasure in.”
The Tour Down Beneath begins on Tuesday with a stage that’s anticipated to be one for the sprinters, with three loops of a circuit beginning and ending in Tanunda, then stage 2 to Lobethal has sufficient climbs scattered all through that it may very well be a day for the break. Stage 3 and 4 are then probably days for the sprinters earlier than the race strikes on to a weekend of summit finishes, first with Willunga Hill on Saturday after which Mount Lofty on Sunday.
