Alaphilippe and van der Breggen solo to rainbow
Young Brits give hope at Worlds in both men’s and women’s road races, reports Vern Pitt
Both Julian Alaphilippe and Anna van der Breggen captured the rainbow bands at the weekend with scorching solo attacks none of their rivals could match.
The former Tour de France yellow jersey attacked on the final ascent of the Cima Gallisterna going clear in the final 100m and holding a gap of just under 10 seconds over the top. Although a chase group of five including Wout van Aert initially worked together well they couldn’t pull back the fully committed Frenchman, who was grimacing and stomping on the pedals.
The emotion of the win, France’s first since Laurent Brochard in 1997, was plain to see as Alaphilippe fell to the floor after the finish line in tears.
After he’d had a chance to come to terms with it he was still mostly lost for words. “It’s a dream day for me,” he said. “Already sometimes I was so close and finally… I’ve never even been on the podium.”
His victory seems certain to inspire similar emotions back home where Alaphilippe’s persistent attacking style and 14 days in the Tour’s yellow jersey last year have earned him a place in French hearts.
The British challenge in the men’s road race was headed by 21-year-old Baby Giro champion Tom Pidcock. The cyclo-cross and mountain bike rider, who was last week confirmed as joining Ineos Grenadiers from 2021, lasted until the last ascent of the
Mazzolano, the penultimate climb of the race, before being distanced.
That in itself was an achievement given the 260km race was some 30km beyond the longest race he’d ever ridden.
Pidcock seemed satisfied with the day’s work. He said: “There was no result but we learned a lot. I just didn’t have any legs to race at the end but I think that was secretly to be expected.
“I was there to race until I couldn’t race any more and got 230km, so that’s not too bad.”
Pidcock, who had been expected to ride the U23 race until it was cancelled when the World Championships had to move venue, will race cyclo-cross over the winter before
“It’s a dream day for me – I’ve never even been on the podium”
> starting with the Ineos Grenadiers team in March 2021.
There he’ll be team-mates with Luke Rowe, who spent Sunday keeping him safe and shepherding him through the race. Rowe, one of the most respected road captains in the peloton, has worked for successive Tour de France champions among others and was very complimentary of his young charge. “For a young lad to go to the World Champs at 270km and blow up after 250 there’s no shame in that. Being realistic this is a team for the future, he can be proud of what he’s achieved,” he said.
“I was mainly telling him just to eat. It sounds like a simple thing but you can get caught up in the heat of the moment. It was quite a stressful race most of the time. It might look mundane for the first 160km but actually it was nervous throughout the race. I said just stay on my wheel and have faith in me and trust me and I promise I’ll put you in the right place at the right time. He bought in straight away and we stuck together well and that’s something that a lot of guys can take a long time to buy in and get that belief. He did it straight away.”
Van der Breggen goes solo
The women’s race was also won with a solo attack by Dutchwoman Anna van der Breggen some 40km from the finish line. The Boels-dolmans rider had been crowned time trial world champion last Thursday and she used those skills to good effect as at first a group of four containing Britain’s Lizzie Deignan and then the collective strength of the peloton gave chase.
But the 2018 world champ extended her lead until it was eventually two minutes on the peloton at the line to once again pull on the rainbow bands.
Deignan meanwhile found herself heavily marked and a little under-powered on the steep slopes at the top of Cima Gallisterna and was unable to break the tactical stranglehold of the Dutch squad.
Still, the 2015 world champion professed to be happy with her eventual sixth place. “Difficult race and difficult course, a bit hillier than I would have liked but I think we got the best result we could,” she said.
Team manager Chris Newton was equally sanguine: “The course was probably a bit harder than it looked on paper – even before the race Lizzie said it’d be tough.”
He added that Lizzy Banks, who they’d hoped might be a contender or a foil to Deignan, hadn’t been able to perform at her best due to still suffering the effects of a crash on the last day of the Giro Rosa that was “a proper slap” and then having to chase on after a more minor crash in the neutral zone of the race. “She was annoyed at crashing because you never look to do that and more often than not it’s not your fault, she was disappointed really,” he said.
Newton said in the round it was the best team performance for a few years highlighting the contribution of Anna Henderson in keeping Deignan safe in the early stages and young Anna Shackley, the 19-year-old British Cycling Academy rider who is joining the Boels-dolmans team next year, who finished 25th.
“We knew this kid had got something to offer here. This was her fourth race of the year. Her ride was tremendous, there were a few little things she can do better but she was there right at the end, that confirmed what we knew. That’s a great asset to have in the GB line-up.”
When asked if she’d be a contender for future World Championships, Newton said: “Yes. The hardened race craft, and the physiological gains she’ll get from racing with the world’s elite week in week out are difficult to replicate in training… it’s exciting for the future.”
“The course was harder than it looked on paper”