Has Remco Evenepoel talked to teammate Julian Alaphilippe about his new job description?
In discussing his plans to most likely, “normally” stay with Soudal Quickstep, Evenepoel was adamant that the team step up its game so he has the necessary support to win the Tour de France.
“If we can just improve a lot of things – science, nutrition, just things around the Grand Tour team – I think we can quickly be on the same level as UAE and Jumbo,” said Evenepoel.
Among the upgrades he suggested is that Alaphilippe becomes his super domestique climber, a French Sepp Kuss, a Gallic Rafal Majka.
“I believe in him [Alaphilippe] as a super domestique. He can have super days and off days, like all super domestique but if he’s on top level he can be in the top ten climbers in the world.”
Well, that’s if Julian feels like doing grunt work for somebody else. Is he ready to do that as a former World Champion? Seems like Alaphilippe would like to keep his star status and top dog role. Now, certainly with all his bad crashes and bad luck, he has struggled the last two season to reach his previous level.
But is he really ready to sacrifice his own agenda to pull Evenepoel up Alpe d’Huez or the Tourmalet? Does he want to be like Wout van Aert and work tirelessly to make sure Vingegaard gets over the hors categorie climbs in the front group?
This just doesn’t sound like a gig that Alaphilippe would be excited by. He should talk to Wout about that. It’s a total grind.
Soudal Quickstep did sign Mikel Landa to pace Evenepoel up the step gradients in the Alps and Pyrenees but it sounds like that’s not enough. The Belgian wants Julian Alaphilippe — and Kaspar Asgreen at his full disposal.
“I believe that we really can… We just need to improve the level of the Grand Tour team. If there’s competition between the domestiques, the level will go up,” said Evenepoel. “You just want to go with the best guys.
Does Julian Alaphilippe really want to be a Tour domestique? Non, c’est pas vrai!!!
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