Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) will not start the fifth and final Monument at Il Lombardia on Saturday as expected and will instead end his season early, citing fatigue after competing in the UCI Road World Championships that took place 10 days ago in Innsbruck.
"I really wanted to race in Lombardy, but I got very tired out of the World Championships," he said in a report in L'Equipe. "I think it's the right decision to put a point behind my season."
Alaphilippe will also miss Milano-Torino on Wednesday and Gran Piemonte on Thursday. He was a favourite for Il Lombardia, however, after placing second in the event last year behind winner Vincenzo Nibali. He has also had one of the best seasons of his career, winning Flèche Wallonne, two stages of the Tour de France and Clásica San Sebastián. He had a total of 12 wins, including overall victories at OVO Energy Tour of Britain and Tour of Slovenia.
"From February to now it has been a long season, I had a lot of goals during that period and that has cost me physically and mentally. I have not been able to train properly in the past few days, so it is pointless to go to Italy. I am going to recuperate and prepare well for next season.”
Alaphilippe was a favourite to win the world title on the mountainous parcours in Innsbruck but exploded on the final and decisive Höll climb and could only manage eighth place. Spain's Alejandro Valverde won the world title, with Alaphilippe's French teammate Romain Bardet placing second and Canada’s Michael Woods in third. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) as fourth in the four-rider sprint for the finish line.
Alaphilippe was expected to lead Quick-Step-Floors at Il Lombardia with a support team that included Kasper Asgreen, Eros Capecchi, Laurens De Plus, Bob Jungels, Enric Mas and Pieter Serry. The team have not announced a replacement rider for the three Italian classics.
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