Soudal-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere has once again issued bracing public criticism of Julian Alaphilippe, telling Belgian magazine Humo that he felt the two-time world champion had lost focus since signing a contract extension with the team in the spring of 2021.
Alaphilippe won his second straight world title later that year, but his 2022 campaign was interrupted by a heavy crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and another fall at the Vuelta a España. In 2023, the Frenchman won the Faun-Ardèche Classic and a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, but he fell well short of expectations at the Classics.
“Julian is a good guy, but after he signed his mega contract, he didn't perform anymore,” Lefevere claimed in the interview with Humo. “I like my riders, but it has to be fair.
"When you get older, you have to look after yourself more, you have to train harder, and you can't throw your hat at it. The penny has to drop now, and he has to fight for it.”
Lefevere went on to suggest that the blame for Alaphilippe’s performances lay with his lifestyle and his relationship with his partner, the Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse.
“Too much partying, too much alcohol…” Lefevere said. “Julian is seriously under the influence of Marion Rousse. Maybe too much. Julian is a young dog full of energy, you have to let him cross the yard once in a while. And you also have to say: up to here and no further. There is still a bad boy inside him.”
Lefevere added that he had already said as much to Alaphilippe this winter during a meeting with the rider, Rousse and his agent Dries Smets. In December, Alaphilippe's cousin and coach Franck Alaphilippe confirmed that his own contract had not been renewed by Soudal-QuickStep, a move that highlighted the tensions between the rider and his team.
“I spoke to him in November last year, in the presence of Marion and his manager Dries Smets. I said: 'It cannot continue like this. If you mess up one more time, I'll fire you on the spot,’” Lefevere said. “The message landed. He is getting it back together.”
Lefevere had already criticised Alaphilippe publicly at the end of 2022, when he told La Dernière Heure that the Frenchman “has the salary of a champion but he has to confirm that he still is one.” At the beginning of 2023, Lefevere told Sporza that Alaphilippe “could no longer hide” behind the injuries and illnesses that blighted him the previous year.
Alaphilippe’s contract with Soudal-QuickStep expires at the end of this season. Speaking at last month’s Tour Down Under, Alaphilippe indicated that he did not know if he would stay with QuickStep or even continue racing in 2024.
The 31-year-old placed sixth overall at the Tour Down Under and he begins his European season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. After the Classics, Alaphilippe is scheduled to make his Giro d’Italia debut in 2024.
Alaphilippe was the subject, incidentally, of Soudal-QuickStep’s latest in-house podcast, which was released on Wednesday morning, though it was apparently recorded before Lefevere’s comments were published in Humo. “I want to become the best version of myself again, I believe that is possible. Now I just lack some self-confidence,” he said.
The Frenchman is due to meet with reporters on Thursday afternoon when Soudal-QuickStep hold a press conference ahead of Opening Weekend.
