For the second consecutive year, Julian Alaphilippe will skip the French National Road Championships on Sunday, June 28 to focus on preparation for the Tour de France starting in two weeks.
Tudor confirmed the news during the Stage 5 broadcast of the Tour de Suisse, where the former world champion did not take to the start line for the mountainous stage.
Alaphilippe has not shown his traditional attacking panache this year, his early season peppered with DNFs. He struggled with illness, forced to abandon Itzulia Basque Country, and then missed Liège-Bastogne-Liège after not finishing in the earlier Ardennes Classics.
His Tudor team gave him some time to prioritise his health before spending three weeks training at altitude in Sierra Nevada in Spain.
The 34-year-old Frenchman then returned to racing at the GP Gippingen, where he finished fifth, before taking the start of the Tour de Suisse. There Alaphilippe did make his way into the breakaway on stage 2, but was not able to join the battle for victory.
Tudor directeur sportif Sylvain Blanquefort told DirectVelo that he feels that Alaphilippe is getting better and better but still has work to do.
“He still lacks a little consistency on certain days. He was average the first day, the second [day] it was ok … He is on the right track. His week is encouraging. The goal is to rediscover the sensations and the pleasure of cycling. There are ten days left before the start of the Tour,” Blanquefort told DirectVelo.
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Blanquefort reinforced that the Tour de France remains the objective.
“He wants to do things well to be ready for the Tour,” he added. “The goal is to capitalise on the days where he feels really good and that he has checked off, and to stay calmer on other days.”
Blanquefort added that Alaphilippe, who has six stage wins at the Tour de France accumulated across 2018 to 2021, is “very motivated” to go for a seventh.
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