Alaphilippe: I have no excuses

Julian Alaphilippe (France) could only express disappointment in his performance during the elite men's road race at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck on Sunday. The Frenchman went into the race as the favourite but fell apart on the steep slopes of the Höttinger Höll and was forced to watch his opportunity to win a world title ride away from him.

"Personally, I'm disappointed. I have no excuses," Alaphilippe told Cyclingnews. "The last climb was just too hard for me. My legs didn't have anything left. Everything was OK, but I just exploded, and I lost so much energy in the last climb."

The elite men raced a gruelling 258km that included an 84km loop from Kufstein to Innsbruck. They then raced seven laps of a 23.8km circuit, with each one featuring the 7.9km Igls climb.

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On the last circuit, the men raced up the decisive 2.9km Höttinger Höll, with grades as steep as 28 per cent, a climb that was predicted to be the deciding point of the race.

The French team also included pure climbers, Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot, but Alaphilippe's successful season with wins at Flèche Wallonne, two stage wins at the Tour de France, and Clasica San Sebastian made him one of the top contenders.

Bardet also had a good season with third at Critérium du Dauphiné, sixth overall at the Tour de France and eighth at the Deutschland Tour, and his one-day successes stood out, too, with second at Strade Bianche and third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Pinot recently finished sixth overall at the Vuelta a España where he won two stages.

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