Julian Alaphilippe hoping to salvage cursed season in Italy
This article originally appeared on Velo News
Julian Alaphilippe will try to salvage what’s been a cursed season through much of 2022 with a strong run across the season-closing classics in Italy.
The French star gave up the rainbow jersey to Remco Evenepoel on Sunday in Wollongong, and will close out his campaign in Italy starting with the Giro dell'Emilia this weekend.
"We have a solid and very motivated team for Saturday. We did well here in the past and we hope for another good outing this weekend,” said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sport director Davide Bramati. “Julian comes from Australia and is very determined for these final weeks of the season, but we also have other guys who can get a nice result at the end of the day, so we're confident and will do our best out there.”
Alaphilippe will later race at Il Lombardia on October 8, where he was second in 2017.
Also read:
Alaphilippe might not believe in the “rainbow jersey” curse, but much of 2022 in his second full season in the stripes was marred by bad luck for the two-time world champion.
The French crashed heavily three times, missed the Tour de France, and won only twice all season in his second year in the cherished stripes.
Now that Evenepoel will don the world champion’s jersey, Alaphilippe will race for the first time since the 2020 Tour de France in his team-issued Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl kit.
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl for Giro dell’Emilia
Julian Alaphilippe (FRA)
Tim Declercq (BEL)
Dries Devenyns (BEL)
James Knox (GBR)
Ilan Van Wilder (BEL)
Mauri Vansevenant (BEL)
Louis Vervaeke (BEL)
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