Tour of Flanders - Julian Alaphilippe: I don’t have a certain scenario in mind
Apr 03 2021 04:54 am CET
Photo of Julian Alaphilippe (c) Wout Beel
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) is ready to face again the Tour of Flanders with the Rainbow jersey for the second time, something that's rare.
The Frenchman will start in the race as one of the leaders of the formation -which will be called Elegant-Quick-Step for this special occasion- and he will want to take revenge from the 2020 edition of the race, where he crashed against a motorcycle when he was part of the front group with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
"I got a lot of questions about what happened in 2020, but this isn’t on my mind anymore," said Alaphilippe. "I turned that page and am fully focused on Sunday. It’s a special feeling, and at the same time, an immense honour to race Flanders in the rainbow jersey again and I want to enjoy every moment of it.
"It’s one of the biggest appointments of the year, an adrenaline-filled race and we want to perform well. We’ll see how it will unfold, but I don’t have a certain scenario in mind. The best scenario is the one that ends with the team winning the race."
Next to the World Champion will be the Danish national champio Kasper Asgreen, who finished in the second place in his debut in the race in 2019. "I am confident that my shape is where I want it to be and I can play a role for the team on Sunday," he commented.
"Winning E3 felt great, especially as it came after a fantastic display of teamwork, and this makes me confident that if we race the way we did last Friday, we’ll have a good chance of being in the mix again. Flanders is a long race and a lot of things can happen, but one of our biggest strengths is that we have several riders who can do something and that boosts our morale ahead of this race, which has become even more important with the postponement of Paris-Roubaix."
Elegant-Quick-Step's roster for the Tour of Flanders (April 4):
Julian Alaphilippe
Kasper Asgreen
Tim Declercq
Florian Senechal
Yves Lampaert
Dries Devenyns
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