Julian Alaphilippe will not add a new award to his collection on July 24.
On social networks, the 2020 world champion has indeed announced that he will not participate in the online race of the Games, on Fuji Speedway.
Fourth in Rio in 2016, the leader, the rider of the Belgian team Deceuninck-Quick Step, explains: “It's a personal and well-considered decision.
End-of-season objectives have been defined and in this sense choices must be made.
I would be very proud to wear the France team jersey for the next world championships.
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(1/3) Hello everyone, I am informing you after having thought for a long time, in agreement with the coach of the France team and my team Deceuninck Quick step, not to be a candidate for selection for the next Tokyo Olympics.
pic.twitter.com/rXA0Vrc7Ae
- Julian Alaphilippe Official (@ alafpolak1) May 14, 2021
Two reasons partly justify this decision.
The triple winner of La Flèche wallonne will be at the start of the Tour de France (June 26 - July 18), which will therefore end on the Champs-Elysées just six days before Tokyo.
Alaphilippe initially favored the Giro, which is currently taking place, rather than the Grande Boucle.
He then changed his mind, at the insistence of Patrick Lefévère, the manager of his team.
The native of Saint-Amand-Montrond will also see his family situation change in a few weeks.
At the end of January, the champion and his companion Marion Rousse, herself a former cyclist, had announced that they were waiting for a happy event, a first birth which will take place next month.
Julian Alaphippe therefore wanted to take the necessary time when the time came.
Thomas Voeckler, the coach of the France team, will now have to compose differently.
Among the five possible bibs for Tokyo, Romain Bardet (DSM) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) are starters.
For Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), the situation is more complex.
Injured in the back during the last Tour, the third of the Tour de France 2014 was forced to forfeit on the roads of Italy.