"Heartbreaking" - Julian Alaphilippe forced to miss French National Championships for first time since 2019

A two-time world champion, Julian Alaphilippe has never managed to bag himself the tricolor of French national champion. Sadly for the 33-year-old, that wait won't be ending in 2025 either, as the Tudor Pro Cycling Team leader has been forced to miss the National Championships for the first time since 2019.

According to a report by Ouest-France, Alaphilippe and his advisors have made the difficult decision to skip the fight the for the French national champion's jersey in 2025 due to fatigue the Frenchman is suffering a busy week of racing last time out at the Tour de Suisse.

Alaphilippe finished a very impressive 5th overall in Switzerland last week, but after heading into the final stage time trial on the podium, he was already showing signs of fatigue as a disappointing TT saw him slip down the general classification rankings. As such, and with a return to the Tour de France in mind, it's understood that Alaphilippe and his team decided the best option for him was to rest up and relax, a decision described by the Frenchman to Ouest as: "Heartbreaking."

Alaphilippe now joins a major list of absentees from the French National Championships, with the likes of Lenny Martinez, Pavel Sivakov, Clément Champoussin, Axel Zingle, Christophe Laporte and Valentin Paret-Peintre all also missing for one reason or another.