Deceuninck – Quick-Step Floors Cycling Team (Italy) - Press Release: A powerful all-out attack on the final climb of the race in Imola propelled the Frenchman to a career-defining victory.

Julian Alaphilippe ended France’s 23-year drought in the men’s road race and won the famous rainbow jersey on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari after more than six and a half hours in the saddle. The win came thanks to a huge surge on the toughest section of Cima Gallisterna, the last climb of the day, with about 12 kilometers to go.

Alaphilippe, who became the fourth different Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to win the World Road Race Championships – after Tom Boonen (2005), Paolo Bettini (2006, 2007) and Michal Kwiatkowski (2014) – dedicated Sunday’s triumph to his late father: “It’s hard for me to describe how I am feeling right now, there are so many things I think of now, so many feelings. This is my greatest victory, a win which I promised to my father I will get one day. Once I attacked with 12 kilometers to go and opened a gap, I was focused on staying at the front and going close to my limit. When I arrived alone at the finish, I couldn’t believe that my dream came true. The coveted rainbow jersey is the most beautiful one in cycling and to know that I will wear it for twelve months gives me huge pride.”

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images.