VIGNOLA – Among the few and heavy absences at the Giro dell'Emilia, there was one that was felt more, almost in anticipation of 2025. The fall suffered at the World Championships in Zurich prevented Julian Alaphilippe from being at the start with his Soudal-Quick Step in the Italian classics of October and to be an absolute protagonist.
A story that began with the Belgian team in 2014 (anticipated by the previous season in the continental formation) where Alaphilippe found in David Bramati a mentor more than a sports directorSo we asked the Lombard coach how he feels about knowing he will no longer be driving the French champion next year.
Symbol of loyalty
The Quick Step-Bramati-Alaphilippe trio was one of the most successful and long-lasting of a modern cycling in which it is difficult to associate a team with a rider and vice versa. The passage of the two-time world champion at Tudor It's one of the best moves of the market cycle, but how do you look at the past that is about to become one soon?
«It's hard to say – explains Bramati – what my first thought was about his departure. We worked together for eleven years and I can say that when you spend so much time with an athlete it means that there is a good relationship.. Times are different now, but there are still riders who sign for four or five years. On a smaller scale and putting it all into context, they make choices like Alaphilippe did with us when he turned pro. I've always gotten along really well with Julian."
«I think about what he won in his career – he continues – but everyone also remembers that a few years ago he had a lot of bad luck, many falls and it wasn't easy for him to come back from moments like that. However, this year Julian has found a great level and I'm sorry he's not here to finish these last races in Italy because he really wanted to. He was in excellent condition., but unfortunately he fell at the World Cup."
Years of victories
Alaphilippe made himself better known to the world in 2015 when he strung together a string of placings in the Amstel, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège triplets, the latter two of which he finished in second place, always behind Valverde. At the time, some compared him to our Bettini, at least because he was in the same team. Then with the Quick-Step group, Alaphilippe has toasted (so far) 44 successes, 24 of which were equally distributed between the two-year period 2018 and 2019, knowing how to hit big targets every year.
"Even in this case," Bramati says, trying to rewind his memory, "it's difficult to say which victory was the most beautiful or special. He won two world championships and six stages of the Tour, not to mention the Strade Bianche and the Sanremo and many other races. He won a lot in Italy and maybe that's why I think that the stage won at the Giro is one of the most spectacularIt was his first participation and he scored with one of his signature numbers. When Loulou was Loulou who started from far away, who had his bursts and his accelerations. We all remember it.
«Just in 2019 at the Tour – he recalls – he had won a couple of stages. With the first one he managed to take the yellow jersey, losing it and regaining it again within two daysJulian has always been a one-day racer, but that year he was really going strong. He wore the yellow jersey for two weeks and finished fifth overall.. That was a moment when it was thought that he could transform himself into a rider for major stage races, but on the uphill there was always someone who was stronger than him over the three weeksI think his career has gone and is going well as it has."
Advice and best wishes
Despite his retirement from competitive cycling coming of age this year, the "Brama" and his riders are very close in many ways. From 2025, he'll face Alaphilippe as an opponent in the Tudor jersey, but there's no shortage of final recommendations.
«Between him and me – concludes Bramati – there are many years of difference, but I still feel young (laughs, ed.) So I can say that my relationship with Julian was more like that of an older brother than of a father and son.He took a different path, but I think he left his mark on our team. He did so much for us and will remain in our hearts. I'm happy to have worked with him.
«For the next few years I wish him to win a lot more and to continue doing what he has always done, especially in the last year.This season he has rediscovered a great level and I am sure he will do just as well in his new adventure."
