Julian Alaphilippe: It’s not easy to win wearing the rainbow jersey

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) celebrates his win on stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Julian Alaphilippe was overjoyed to take his first victory of the 2021 season at Tirreno-Adriatico and beat big-name rivals Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar on the uphill finish in Chiusdino in deepest Tuscany.

The Frenchman timed his final effort to the line perfectly, coming off Geraint Thomas’ wheel in the final hundred metres to surge past his fading teammate João Almeida. His rivals were behind him and didn’t have the speed to pass him. Van der Poel came up late but started his effort too far back to be able to snatch victory.

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Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.