However his attractive racing style is not unknown to the "replacement" leader for this year. The quotation marks are needed as
Julian Alaphilippe is a leader many teams could only dream off. With a second place and a stage at the Tour of Slovakia, stage at Czech Tour and finally a part of France's silver-bronze success at the Olympic Games, the 32-year-old seems to be very close to his best shape. Will he be able to add another to his a bit dusty victory from 2018?
Likewise the local hero
Mikel Landa looks to be in more than solid shape. The experienced Basque will return to racing after a more than successful Tour de France where he entered the final top-5 for the third time in his career. After two fourth places in 2017 and 2020, he added a fifth place to his collection. All that while supporting team leader Remco Evenepoel in the mountains.
"We won a lot of times this beautiful event and we want to do again a good race. We come with Julian, who had a strong outing at the Czech Tour, and Mikel Landa, in his first race since concluding a solid Tour de France in the top five three weeks ago. They are both very motivated and can rely on a good squad that is ready to support them," said Soudal - Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters in
press release.