Julian Alaphilippe needs to ‘confirm that he is still a champion’ says QuickStep-AlphaVinyl boss Patrick Lefevere

QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team manager Patrick Lefevere has demanded more from one of his star riders, Julian Alaphilippe.

The Frenchman was among a swarm of riders to go down in a big pile-up with 60km remaining.

He was left in a ditch, with rival Romain Bardet (Team DSM) so alarmed at his compatriot’s plight that he walked down a steep slope to check on him, rather than set off in pursuit of the peloton.

The 30-year-old has now recovered and is preparing for the 2023 campaign, and has been ordered to return to winning ways by Lefevere.

“I want him to recover – he owes me revenge,” Lefevere, whose team will be rebranded Soudal-QuickStep in 2023, told La Derniere Heure, a Belgian French-language newspaper.

“Julian has a salary of a champion, but he needs to confirm that he is still a champion.

“I don’t care that he is no longer world champion – he hasn’t won much in recent years.”

Lefevere also suggested that Alaphilippe needed to take some of the responsibility for an injury-plagued season.

“Yes, he’s had a lot of bad luck,” Lefevere continued, “but it’s always the same people who are lucky and the same people who are unlucky.”

Lefevere has been spending time in Calpe, Spain at the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl training camp as the team prepare for the new season.