After a period of uncertainty surrounding whether Julian Alaphilippe would be racing the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, the two-time world champion has been confirmed as starting.
Alaphilippe, who triumphed in Imola and Leuven, crashed out of the Vuelta a España just under two weeks ago on stage 11 of the race, dislocating his shoulder in the process.
His Worlds participation hung in the balance, and his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team boss Patrick Lefevere has since said it would be "risky" for him to race in Australia, but the French Cycling Federation (FFC) have confirmed that he'll lead their men's selection next week.
"He wants to risk it, but I don't think it's very smart. Had I been him, I would have let the World Championships pass me by and put everything on the Italian races," Lefevere said last week.
"But I understand the pressure from what I will call French politics. I'm not paying him to ride for the French team. Becoming world champion is nice, but I prefer him to race in our jersey."
Alaphilippe has endured a hard 2022 campaign blighted by illness and injury. His Vuelta crash was the latest misfortune in a year which saw him start late due to illness, suffer a laundry list of injuries in a mass crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and then catch COVID-19 at the Tour de Wallonie in July.
Alaphilippe heads up a strong nine-man selection for the Worlds road race. Romain Bardet is also taking part, as is newly naturalised citizen Pavel Sivakov, and Tour de France stage winner Christophe Laporte.
Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher, Florian Sénéchal, Rémi Cavagna and Bruno Armirail also make the cut, with Cavagna and Armirail also taking part in the individual time trial.
Major names missing the selection include several climbers such as David Gaudu, Thibaut Pinot, and Guillaume Martin, as well as sprinter Arnaud Démare and puncheur Benoît Cosnefroy.
A strong French women's squad will be led by Audrey Cordon-Ragot, who recently finished second at the Simac Ladies Tour, along with Juliette Labous, who took fourth in the Tour de France Femmes. Evita Muzic and Aude Biannic are among the team's other options while Coralie Demay, Marie Le Net, and Gladys Verhulst are also selected.
Biannic, Le Net, and Demay will ride the mixed relay event alongside Cavagna and Armirail plus U23 rider Eddy Le Huitouze.
French selection for the UCI Road World Championships
Elite men's road race: Julian Alaphilippe, Romain Bardet, Pavel Sivakov, Christophe Laporte, Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher, Florian Sénéchal, Rémi Cavagna, Bruno Armirail
Elite women's road race: Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Juliette Labous, Evita Muzic, Aude Biannic, Coralie Demay, Marie Le Net, Gladys Verhulst
Elite men's time trial: Rémi Cavagna, Bruno Armirail
Elite women's time trial: Juliette Labous, Marie Le Net
Mixed relay TTT: Rémi Cavagna, Bruno Armirail, Aude Biannic, Coralie Demay, Marie Le Net, Eddy Le Huitouze
