Julian Alaphilippe out of Milano-Sanremo with illness, Fabio Jakobsen steps in

The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team have announced their lineup for the upcoming Milano-Sanremo and the list does not include World Champion and past winner Julian Alaphilippe, after he has gotten ill after Tirreno-Adriatico.

“Milano-Sanremo is an event we love and which we are always happy to race, but this year we know the chances won’t favour us, as we can’t count on Julian, who we hope will make a fast and complete recovery. We have a young team at the start, featuring also Fabio, who has had a great season so far and will make his first appearance here. Despite not being among the favourites, we are still motivated to do a good race." team sports director Davide Bramati said.

After there had been some debate as to who would lead the team in the first monument of the season, the choice ended up made due to Alaphilippe's illness and subsequent absence from the race he won in 2019. The choice was then made easier as to Fabio Jakobsen's presence question, as the Dutchman is set to make his debut and perhaps be the team's main option.

The punchy nature of the race will certainly but a heavy challenge on Jakobsen's back, but he has shown great form early in the season and in case it does come to a large bunch sprint he will be very dangerous. The team has a large array of riders who can succeed, with Andrea Bagioli and Mikkel Honoré riders who have the legs to attack up the climbs, and the classics riders Florian Sénéchal and Zdenek Stybar can both climb and sprint well specially when it comes to such long distances, which give the team several options. Davide Ballerini has not shown his best form yet after having had Covid-19 just over a month ago, but the Italian also fits the race's profile very well.

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team for Milano-Sanremo: Fabio Jakobsen, Davide Ballerini, Andrea Bagioli, Mattia Cattaneo, Mikkel Honoré, Florian Sénéchal and Zdenek Stybar.