Julian Alaphilippe abandons after a heavy fall at the Road Cycling Worlds

CYCLING – “ Apparently, we would have Julian Alaphilippe next to the ambulance… » The atmosphere was light at midday this Sunday, September 29 on Eurosport during the men’s road race at the Zurich Cycling Worlds when bad news appeared under the blue Swiss sky: the abandonment of the French rider, twice winner of the event in 2020 and 2021.

It was the management of the French team who warned the broadcasters, even though no image of the French champion had been shown on air. There were then more than 200 kilometers to go for Julian Alaphilippe and the rest of the peloton before reaching Zurich and the finish line of the race.

Evacuated by ambulance

As Blues coach Thomas Voeckler confirmed to our colleagues at Eurosport, the Frenchman dislocated his left shoulder in a fall, making the continuation of the race impossible. He was even evacuated by ambulance. “For the rest, he is fine. He was evacuated and the French team doctor is with him”Agence France Press learned from the management of the Blues.

Note that against the favorites Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and especially Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), the French team has several other trump cards, notably the future retiree Romain Bardet, the excellent climber David Gaudu or the specialist in grueling races Valentin Madouas.

But this abandonment remains a real blow, the French losing their best record in this type of event. A Julian Alaphilippe who said he was “in better shape than at the Olympics”, where he finished 11th after having contributed to the collective success of his team (Valentin Madouas in silver and Christophe Laporte in bronze).

The day before, Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had also been forced to retire in the women’s race, the Blues not managing to slip into the top 10 in a race won once again by the Belgian Lotte Kopecky .

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