A few days before the big start, we will have to make up our minds: the Tour de France 2022 will take place without Julian Alaphilippe. Judged too fair physically after his violent fall during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which had earned him multiple injuries at the end of April, the double world champion tricolor will follow the event on TV. He will not be the only one since Mark Cavendish, winner of 34 stages on the Grande Boucle, was also not retained by Patrick Lefevere, their boss at Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl.
The day after the announcement of the composition of the team, the latter justified himself in the columns of the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad: “It’s not a nice message, but I explained to Julian what our vision is . It is feared that his condition is not good enough to ride at a high level for three weeks. Julien understood it. »
The General Manager of the Belgian formation would have even made the decision before the French championship disputed last Sunday in Cholet, where Alaphilippe, who was making his big comeback, nevertheless behaved well: “This race is only the championship of France, comments Lefevere. Now, if he had won by a minute, that would be a different story. But there is a big difference between a one-day race and a Grand Tour. »
At the announcement of the selection of which he is not part, Mark Cavendish (who will be a reservist like Florian Sénéchal) reacted: “I am sad not to be able to defend my green jersey and not to be able to write a little more history of the tour of the best cycling stages in the world. Patrick Lefevere made a point of providing details: “We chose to sprint with Fabio Jakobsen (winner of the 2nd stage of the last Paris-Nice). Yes, there is a lot of pressure on his shoulders now. He knows what decisions we made for him. Sport always comes first. »