Julian Alaphilippe was one of the surprising absences from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team's Tour de France lineup, and team manager Patrick Lefevere explained the decision.
“Not great news, of course, but I explained our vision to Julian and he understood that," Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad. “We fear that his condition is not good enough to race at a high level for three weeks. If he wins the French championship by a minute, it might have been a different story. But you can't compare a one-day race with a French peloton with three weeks of Tour de France."
Alaphilippe's absence from the Tour came as a surprise, specifically after his 13th place in the national championships. Although he was not in his best form, it was hoped that he would grow his form during the Tour in order to chase stages later in the race. However, that was not the team's plan.
Lefevere justified that the route wasn't well suited to the World champion in addition: "...Then you have echelons – which he can do well in itself – and the cobblestone stage to Arenberg," he argumented, in favour of the classics riders such as Florian Sénéchal who was announced to replace Tim Declercq this morning after the latter tested positive for Covid-19.
The Frenchman's best options would come on stages six and eight to Longwy and Lausanne, but those would surely be too early for Alaphilippe to have his best legs. “And then you have to say that men like David Gaudu, Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout van Aert have also touched on it," Lefevere mentioned.
"How do we optimally play Julian in the Tour? It was an impasse that we as a team couldn't quite get out of," he concluded. Finally, he had two puncheurs replace him in Mikkel Honoré and Andrea Bagioli, who will ride for stage wins whilst Alaphilippe will have more time to prepare his form for the latter part of the season.
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