It's not a surprise but, as we announced on June 11, Julian Alaphilippe will compete in the French Road Championships on June 26 in Cholet.
His Quick-Step team made it official on Tuesday in a press release.
The double world champion has not put on a bib since April 24 and his serious fall during Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he fractured three ribs, a shoulder blade and suffered from pneumothorax.
Since then, Alaphilippe has first resumed training on a home trainer, after two weeks of immobilization, before joining some of his Quick-Step teammates on an internship in Sierra Nevada.
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He had for a long time, with his entourage, decided that if he had to compete in the next Tour de France (starting on July 1 from Copenhagen), he had to compete in a race beforehand.
The choice was not complicated since on the French calendar his only possibility was the French Road Championships in Cholet.
The layout promises victory for a sprinter.
Alaphilippe will therefore not line up to shine, but only to find sensations and recover a little rhythm before the start of the Grande Boucle.
And incidentally to try to help, even if it will be complicated against the Groupama-FDJ of Arnaud Démare, his teammate Remi Cavagna to keep his tricolor jersey of champion of France.
