Julian Alaphilippe wins Strade Bianche on the first attempt
Another big win for Deceuninck – Quick-Step. After the triumphs at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Le Samyn, Julian Alaphilippe claimed another one for the Belgian team.
“We always have pressure, everybody looks at Deceuninck – Quick-Step team. Everybody puts the responsibilities on my team because we win a lot, so today we took our responsibility again,” Alaphilippe said.
The team had Alaphilippe, Štybar and Lampaert in the final group. In the end, it came to a battle between Alaphilippe, Fuglsang (Astana) and Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). The Frenchman was the strongest and fulfilled his goal for the start of the season.
“We were three strong riders from the team in the final so we could play with the others, and in the end I was on a good day. It was my first big goal and I’m really happy.”
Strade Bianche 2019
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) 4:47:14
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) +2s
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +27s
4. Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) +1:00
5. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) +1:00
6. Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) +1:01
7. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) +1:04
8. Simon Clarke (EF Education First) +1:08
9. Toms Skujinš (Trek-Segafredo) +1:12
10. Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) +1:21
