Deceuninck-QuickStep team manager Patrick Leferet watched his rider, Julien Alaphilippe, win for France in the elite men's road race at the World Championships in Imola, Italy, on Sunday.

"He timed it perfectly and no one could follow him," Lefebvre told Sporza of Alaphilippe's winning attack on the final climb of the Cima Galisterna with 12km remaining.

"They would still run behind him and I was afraid that Primoš Roglic (Slovenia) might close the gap.

"I was most afraid of Wout Van Aert, but there were better riders," he added, and Alaphilippe proved to be the strongest, finishing 24 seconds ahead of Belgium's Van Aert.

"Few can keep up with Julien on a hill like that," Lefebvre said. 'He reacted very emotionally afterwards, he couldn't stop crying. Am I proud of me? Of course I am proud. But I've never seen so many guys crying as I did today.

Alaphilippe will wear the Detuning Quickstep rainbow jersey for the next 12 months.

"I love that jersey," added Lefevere, whose last rainbow-striped road race world champion was Poland's Michał Kwiatkowski, who won the title in 2014 and finished fourth on Sunday.

"We are still a Belgian team with a sponsor in Flanders," Lefebvre said of Deceuninck-QuickStep. Lefebvre said. It's powerful to know that we will soon be running the classics with the world champions."

"Julien was already the best one-day cyclist in the world last year. I am sure he will be a great world champion."