"If Julian Alaphilippe gets fit, he'll come along" - Lefevere on World champion's Tour de France possibilities

For around month and a half, since his serious injuries at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, World champion Julian Alaphilippe has had a very clear goal in mind which would be to recover from them, and subsequently be able to train himself into form in time for the Tour de France.

"If Julian Alaphilippe gets fit, he'll come along. We're not going to be secretive about that," Team manager Patrick Lefevere said in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column. "He is making good progress on altitude training in the Sierra Nevada, but with all due respect: there is a big difference between training uphill with Yves Lampaert or Tim Declercq and effectively participating in the race."

Alaphilippe won the opening stage of the race last year, taking on the yellow jersey on first opportunity. Although the same isn't expected this year, the Frenchman will be looking to race himself into top form and be able to target stage wins.

“We always work with a long list: a team of riders already know from the first training camp that we are looking at them for the Tour. After Switzerland we will go from eleven to the final eight names... Usually we arrive at our eight names fairly unanimously. It's not rocket science either, of course," Lefevere added.

As for the goals in the mountains, in which Alaphilippe has done well in the past, Lefevere brushes off any overall classification tilt. “We will not go to the Tour with an outspoken classification man – even without his difficult preparation we would not finish Alaphilippe like this," he added.

"But because of the convoy position, we have to stay there between the people. Mattia Cattaneo is someone who, together with Dries Devenyns, can be used anywhere and at the same time can ride a classification. Last year he finished twelfth for us in the Tour," he suggested as a possibility however. Cattaneo is currently sitting in second position at the Critérium du Dauphiné as the decisive weekend is ongoing.