The Giro d'Italia might still be underway, but stage 12 winner Julian Alaphilippe and his Soudal-QuickStep are already planning for the next Grand Tour of the season and a possible return to the Tour de France.
The Frenchman had been scheduled to rest following his Giro debut this month ahead of a hopeful participation at his home Olympic Games in Paris. However, he has reportedly been selected as part of Soudal-QuickStep's 12-rider longlist for the Tour.
French newspaper L'Equipe has broken the news of the move, claiming that the team's Tour de France GC hopeful Remco Evenepoel has led the push for Alaphilippe's inclusion in the July squad.
The team's sporting management is also in favour of the 31-year-old's inclusion, with his experience – six starts, six stage wins, and a fifth place overall in 2019 – a major factor in the move.
Alaphilippe has endured a tough run of seasons by his standards since his last World Championships title back in 2021, taking just two wins at WorldTour level before coming to the Giro this spring and completing the Grand Tour stage win trilogy from the break in Fano.
He started his season with sixth overall at the Tour Down Under and went on to take a top 10 at Milan-San Remo carrying what turned out to be a fractured fibula.
At the Giro he looks revitalised and racing once again at a top level, having taken second place behind Pelayo Sánchez in the break on stage 6 before soloing home on the hilly stage 12, again from the breakaway.
Alaphilippe's struggles have seen him come in for criticism from Soudal-QuickStep CEO Patrick Lefevere, often in public. The veteran Belgian team manager said this week that the relationship between the pair is not what many think.
"My relationship with Julian is not what many want to make of it," Lefevere said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. "That little guy has been riding with me since he was 17. I have believed in him all these years.
"I experienced very nice things with him. Things have slowed down in recent years, yes. It's certainly not my fault. I'm not saying there's much he can do about it either. It is what it is."
Lefevere said that he was in favour of Alaphilippe making his Giro debut this year, noting that "the course suits him" as well as the "wilder" style of racing compared to the Tour. He did, however, stand by his criticism of his rider's spring campaign.
"I have repeated enough times that I was not satisfied. It wasn't personal," he said. "It wasn't enough for what he can do and what he is paid for. Maybe I didn't say it the right way. I just don't have any other style.
"In the spring it didn't work again. Julian became demoralised. He was ridden off the wheel, much too early for his actions. It then turned out that he had suffered a fracture in the fibula during a fall in the Strade Bianche. He still finished ninth in Milan-San Remo."
Alaphilippe's contract is up for extension this year, with Cofidis among the teams interested in signing him for 2025 and beyond. Lefevere said that he had already sent a lower contract proposal, one that was denied by Alaphilippe's camp.
"I proposed lowering his contract last year. Not that I would humiliate him; I wouldn't hit him with a hammer," he said. "My proposal was to pay him less wages in 2024 but also to include 2025. That proved that I still had confidence. That was denied and that's where it ended for me.
"But look, Julian is now proving me wrong. I like that. And I don't feel too good about admitting it – not that I'm 100% wrong – because we are talking about money. It's not my style to extend a rider's contract for less money. But again, I can't say he has raced well in the last two years."
