Julian Alaphilippe "disappointed to not be at the Tour de France"

Julian Alaphilippe had a spectacular recovery and rehabilitation from injury, one that came from his crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and had him suffer a pneumothorax aswell as several fractures in his body. However, it was not enough to earn him a participation at the Tour de France.

“I am disappointed to not be at the Tour de France this year. I have a natural affection for the race, from my days in the yellow jersey over the past three seasons, my stage victories and many other great memories with my teammates," he said in a press release where the team announced the riders that will be representing the team in France. "To miss another opportunity to wear my beautiful rainbow jersey in my home country is very sad for me and I knew that this decision would be difficult for the team to take."

Although Fabio Jakobsen is leading the team with sprinting ambitions, there was as always space for the classics riders and puncheurs to be in the team. Alaphilippe had the space and the possibility to be at the start in Copenhagen after finishing 13th on his return to racing at the national championships, but with the Danish Grand Depart the team put a lot of emphasis on Kasper Asgreen and Mikkel Honoré who got the position - alongside Andrea Bagioli who came in as a surprise.

"At the same time, I completely understand this, because I too don’t want to be at the start if I can’t be at my best level. I want to wish the best of luck to my Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl teammates, I know they will do everything to try to have a great race. I will now focus on getting back to my best shape, because I am motivated to do a strong second part of the season," Alaphilippe added. Compatriot Florian Sénéchal was another surprising absence from the team, and Mark Cavendish has also been left out - having resorted to social media to talk about his situation.

“The decision to leave Julian home was a very difficult one, as he is one of the team’s most emblematic riders and we wrote so many great moments together at the Tour," team DS Tom Steels said regarding the difficult choice.

"Julian worked hard to get back into shape after what happened to him in Liège, but it is felt that for a rider like him it’s always important to be on top of his game and be able to compete with the best riders of the peloton in a race like Le Tour. That’s why we decided to give him more time to recover and build back his condition, so that he can be at 100% for the second part of the season," he explained.