Julian Alaphilippe bids goodbye to professional racing: "I had the honour of closing this chapter of my life on Champs-Élysées"
CyclingFriday, 21 August 2026 at 20:30
The news of Julian Alaphilippe's retirement, which have been first reported by WielerFlits and L'Équipe yesterday, have been confirmed by the rider himself on Friday evening. The 34-year-old rider will not pin on racing numbers again this season as the 2026 Tour de France remains the final race of his successful career.
Early reports of Alaphilippe's immediate retirement comes as a shock in particular because the Frenchman is still under contract at Tudor Pro Cycling through 2027, on a three-year deal signed before 2025 season. For Tudor the good news is they can invest newly-available resources in other assests; on the other hand they lose a key rider for hilly races.
Alaphilippe started the 2026 season at Volta ao Algarve. Continuing through Strade Bianche, and Tirreno-Adriatico, he reached Milano-Sanremo whilst always competing among top-25 riders. But since Itzulia Basque Country, Alaphilippe had only one "good day" on the bike when he finished 5th at GP Gippingen (1.1).
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No longer had the spark
At the Tour de France, he only briefly featured in two breakaways without a stand-out result and concluded the race 125th overall - a stark contrast to his 5th place from 2019. As the race reached Champs-Élysées, Alaphilippe was not yet set on the idea of retiring, but neither has he longed to return anymore.
"It is with a very particular emotion that I write these few words to announce the end of my sporting career. After much reflection, I had the honour of closing this chapter of my life on the Champs-Élysées, by way of Montmartre in Paris, on the final stage of the Tour de France," Alaphilippe bid a farewell through his Instagram.
"I feel enormous gratitude for having been able to work with, meet, or simply cross paths with so many wonderful people throughout my career. And a great deal of luck, too, to have made some of my dreams come true, and to have lived through emotions that will stay with me forever."
"I take pride at having contributed to so many successes for all my teams. And at having been able to let you live them too. You have always supported me so much, even in the hardest moments."
"Before coming back to you to share what comes next, simply a big 'Thank you' from the bottom of my heart," Alaphilippe concluded.
How it all began
Julian Alaphilippe first made a name for himself as a talented cyclocrosser in the youth categories, but his gift for road racing was soon recognized by Patrick Lefevere who, through then development team Etixx-iHNed promoted Alaphilippe to WorldTour Quick-Step in 2014.
Julian Alaphilippe celebrates his last Grand Tour stage win at the 2024 Giro d'Italia
Already in his debut season, Alaphilippe convinced everyone about his immense potential as he competed with the best at Itzulia Basque Country or GP Plouay. And he also claimed his first professional victory that year at Tour de l'Ain.
Followed a rapid progression and across the next three seasons, Alaphilippe podiumed La Fleche Wallonne (twice), Liege-Bastogne-Liege, European Championships, Milano-Sanremo, and even Il Lombardia. He also triumphed overall at Tour of California, and won a Vuelta stage.
But that big one-day race victory kept evading young Frenchman. That lasted only until 2018.
Alaphilippe celebrated his graduation from under-25 category with victories at La Fleche Wallonne, Clasica San Sebastian, and two Tour de France stages alongside a polka dot jersey.
If that was already a great season, Alaphilippe pushed the bar even higher in 2019 when he stormed through the spring to claim Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo, and successfully defended his La Fleche Wallonne title. And in summer, he nearly wrote a fairy tale when he spent two weeks in Tour de France yellow jersey, only to lose it in penultimate mountain stage.
Twilight of a great career
In subsequent seasons, Alaphilippe remained successful at collecting stage wins and early yellow jerseys at the Tour, but would never attempt his GC raid again. More importantly, the Frenchman won back-to-back world titles in Imola and Leuven.
The 2021 season later turned out to have been a bit of a breaking point in Alaphilippe's career. Even though he would go on to win further 8 races (45 in total) over the next four years, he'd never reach his peak level again. The 2025 GP Québec is therefore final victory in Alaphilippe's palmares.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- A great career - he was so fun to watch. I remember when the "big 3" was MVDP, WVA, and JA. He fell off quickly after a few big crashes, but was always such a gentleman in interviews and to his fellow cyclists. And he showed real class in the Quick-Step break up.mij22-08-2026
- I hope Gall does well - seems like such a great guy. Mads too.mij22-08-2026
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- yeah just said the same about WVA, Sepp, etc and your points are good ones. As I said, I think every time but UAE would take the "problems" of Vismamij21-08-2026
- yeah I'll give you all of that but it could be so many things. A lot of the guys - WVA, Sepp, Victor C, etc seem quite happymij21-08-2026
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Rafionain-Glas21-08-2026 - Naïve dumboMistermaumau21-08-2026
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