Born in Briançon (Hautes-Alpes), Alphand was world junior champion in 1983 and made his World Cup debut in 1984. It took a decade for him to make his breakthrough winning his first world cup at Kitzbühel 1995, and going on to take the overall downhill title 3 years in a row. In 1997 he won the World Cup overall title by collecting points only in the two speed disciplines, downhill and super G – a unique achievement in World Cup history. For this accomplishment he was voted L'Equipe Champion of Champions in 1997.[1] The previous year he won a bronze medal at the 1996 World Championships at Sierra Nevada, Spain.
In the village of Chantemerle (which neighbours his home town of Briançon in the Serre-Chevalier region) an expert ski run has been named in his honour.
His daughter, Estelle Alphand, represents Sweden in FIS Alpine Ski World Cup.
He retired from competitive skiing in 1997 and started a career in auto racing. First in the Nissan Micra Stars Cup (1997–1998), then in the European Le Mans Series (2001), the FIA GT Championship (2002), and the Lamborghini Supertrophy (2002). He won the 2006 Dakar Rally, in which he had finished runner-up a year earlier. With this victory, he was the first ex-skier to win the Paris-Dakar. He recently purchased two Corvette race cars from Pratt & Miller for use in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Alphand suffered severe back injuries in an accident on the Rand'Auvergne all-terrain motorcycle race on 27 June 2009.[2] In November 2010 he retired from competitive auto racing due to health reasons.
