Disappointment for the many fans of the French cyclist: Julian Alaphilippe will not participate in the Tour de Francewhich starts on Friday from Copenhagen. This is what his Quick-Step team announced on Monday during the unveiling of the eight riders selected for the event. “The decision to leave Julian at home was very difficult to make […] but for a rider like him, it’s always important to be at the top level to be able to compete with the best riders in the peloton. That’s why we decided to give him more time to continue to recover and get back to his level, to be at 100% for the second part of the season.“, wrote the Quick-Step team in a press release.
Disappointment
For his part, Julian Alaphilippe says to himself “disappointed“not being able to take part in the Tour this year but knows he won’t”cannot take the start without being at 100% of its form“. Two months after his heavy fall during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the cyclist therefore does not seem sufficiently recovered to participate. After his serious fall resulting in a hemopneumothorax, a fractured scapula and two broken ribs, Alaphilippe was launched in a real time trial to recover and get back in shape in time to hope to be at the start of the Tour.
However, he resumed competition last Sunday during the road race of the Championship and contributed to the victory of his teammate Florian Sénéchal, also excluded from the list of eight riders selected by Quick-Step for the Tour. The Quick-Step team has also decided to do without Briton Mark Cavendish, who equaled Eddy Merckx’s record for stage victories in the Tour last summer (34) and won the title of champion of Britain.
The Belgian team led by Patrick Lefevere favored Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, as they had planned to do from the start of the season.
“A good decision”
“Wisdom prevailed, it’s a good decision made by the Quick-Step team”, according to France Bleu cycling consultant Jean-François Bernard.
“Taking the start of the Tour was more than risky and it could jeopardize the rest of the season” of the double French world champion, estimates the cycling consultant of France Bleu. “It’s a very wise decision on the part of the staff which will lead him to have a very good end to the season.” he concluded.