The French team and Julian Alaphilippe tackle the online race of Zurich World Championships this Sunday with ambition. Lhe double French world champion was present at a press conference this Friday evening, four years to the day after his first world coronation, on September 27, 2027 in Imola. But before discussing the race and the sporting aspect, the one who will be one of the leaders of the French selection of Thomas Voeckler first returned to the tragic episode which mourned the world of cycling this Friday, namely the death of 18-year-old Swiss girl Muriel Furrer following a serious fall Thursday morning during the Junior road race of the Worlds. “It was a blow to my head, honestly. It reminds us how cycling is a beautiful but cruel and dangerous sport“, declared a Alaphilippe very touched.
Video – Julian Alaphilippe very touched by the death of Muriel Furrer
“Sport is regaining its rights, we will think of her but it hurts”
“You can’t imagine being in your parents’ place, especially at their place, it touched me a lot. It is important to me to just send my condolences and that we think of her and her family“, he paid tribute. “Sport is back on track, we’re running on Sunday and we’ll think of her and her family, but it’s a pain in the ass“. Because the Elite women’s and men’s races will take place on Saturday then Sunday despite these terrible circumstances, as the family of the young Swiss girl wished. The sport will therefore resume its rights, and it is with a Julian Alaphilippe very motivated and in great shape as the French team advances to its Worlds, with, as is often the case, an outsider status ready to do anything to beat the odds and bring down the favorites Tadej Pogacar et Remco Evenepoel.
The future rider of the team Tudor Pro Cycling ensures you feel much better than before I of Paris 2024. “Yes, I feel fitter than at the Olympics. In Paris, I wasn’t bad either, but I lacked enough to play leading roles. Since then, I’ve only felt better and better“, confided the onth of the Games, who particularly appreciates the difficult 273 km course that he was able to complete on Friday. “We did two laps, it’s a circuit that I like, it has everything. It requires several qualities, you have to be explosive, resistant, technical. It requires a lot of energy and concentration and especially the legs. It also corresponds to our way of taking the race. I can’t wait for Sunday. We have a great team. We’re here to try to win the race, that’s for sure. We know it will be hard, but we will give our best so as not to have regrets. We are not going to race for fifteenth place“, he concluded.
