Julian Alaphilippe will miss the Tour de France in order to focus on his preparation for the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympics and so not support Remco Evenepoel as the Belgian targets overall victory.
Following Alaphilippe’s stirring victory at Fano on the Giro d’Italia, it was reported that the two-time world champion was part of Soudal-QuickStep’s twelve-man long list for the Tour. Manager Patrick Lefevere has told L’Équipe that he discussed Tour participation with Alaphilippe that evening but the Frenchman indicated his preference to miss the race and build towards a home Olympics.
“I called Julian on the night of his stage win at the Giro to congratulate him,” Lefevere said. “He told me that he could well imagine that I was thinking of him for the Tour but that he didn’t want to do it because he had other objectives in mind.
“He assured me that he would abide by our decision, because we’re his employer, but I couldn’t imagine for an instant obliging him to be at the start. We’ve never done that to anyone. I understand above all that Julian already has Paris in mind. It will be his last chance to live the Olympic Games, especially at home. Why deprive him of that?”
Alaphilippe’s Giro debut was planned partly with the Paris Olympics in mind.
He had indicated from the beginning of the season that he intended to miss the Tour with an eye to objectives in the latter part of the season, namely the Paris Olympics, the World Championships in Zurich and Il Lombardia.
Evenepoel will lead Soudal-QuickStep in July as he makes his Tour debut with a team devoted entirely to his general classification challenge. Alaphilippe was a key support for Evenepoel at the 2022 Vuelta a España prior to his crash midway through the race, but French manager Thomas Voeckler had warned that reprising that role this July would compromise his Olympic ambitions.
“You can't consider the Olympics as a goal after riding such a demanding Giro, spending almost every day at the front like Julian did, and then following that up with the Tour de France in the service of a leader who will be riding for GC, with all the physical and mental exertions that entails,” Voeckler told L’Équipe.
“You can go to the Games if you see them as a goal in their own right. Or if you can do the Tour and manage your efforts, which wouldn’t be the case for him if he was working for Evenepoel.”
Alaphilippe’s likely absence from the Tour, allied to his performances at the Giro, puts him clearly in the frame for a spot in the four-man French selection for the Olympics, which will be announced on the first rest day of the Tour in Orléans on July 8.
It remains to be seen if Alaphilippe will remain a Soudal-QuickStep rider after his contract expires at the end of the current campaign amid interest from a number of teams, including Cofidis and Tudor.
Despite issuing very public and personalised criticism of Alaphilippe in recent years, Lefevere indicated his desire to keep the Frenchman on the roster in the aftermath of his Giro stage win.
In his Het Nieuwsblad column this past weekend, Lefevere revealed that Alaphilippe’s agent Dries Smets had sought a meeting with him in the coming days.
“I have no idea whether that is out of politeness or out of genuine interest in staying, because the Giro has of course also changed the market situation for Julian,” said Lefevere.
