QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, the racing team from Belgium, just announced their selected team members for the Tour de France on Monday. But the roster did not include the name of Julian Alaphilippe, the world champion, and Mark Cavendish, who just won the British Championship.
The decision came in on 27th June. The names of Mattia Cattaneo, Kasper Asgreen, and Fabio Jakobsen are included in the list. The team has built their hopes of winning around them. QuickStep-AlphaVinyl always wagered on Fabio Jakobsen as their sprinter. Even though Cavendish won Sunday and also holds the green jersey, he will be traveling to Copenhagen only if required. He is now the standby for Tour de France.
Although Julian Alaphilippe stumbled with his form required for the Grand Tour. The crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège has taken a toll on him. He suffered from fractured shoulders and ribs and punctured lungs. His recovery was made slow by stomach problems. Julian expressed his disappointment:
I’m disappointed to not be at the Tour de France this year. To miss another opportunity to wear my beautiful rainbow jersey in my home country is very sad for me, and I knew that this decision would be difficult for the team to take.
But he understands the requirements of his team and wishes his selected teammates good luck:
At the same time, I completely understand this, because I too don’t want to be at the start if I can’t be at my best level. I want to wish the best of luck to my QuickStep-AlphaVinyl teammates, I know they will do everything to try to have a great race.
Fabio Jakobsen achieved 10 victories this year so far. At Vuelta a España, he won 5 stages, and he will be making his Tour de France debut. Jakobsen is so for the best sprinter at the team. The team director, Tom Steels, said to the press:
Kasper, Yves and Michael will form a solid lead-out train for Fabio, who has proved how fast and strong he is in the sprints and will now get to discover Le Tour
He continued:
Tim will be the guy to help him not only on the flat, but also in the mountains, where he’ll take care that Fabio makes it inside the time limit
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The team includes Andrea Bagioli, Tim Declercq, Kasper Asgreen, Fabio Jakobsen, Mikkel Honoré, Yves Lampaert, Michael Mørkøv and Mattia Cattaneo.
We give you our strong and motivated eight-man team for #TDF2022 (1-23 July), which for the first time in history will start from Denmark: https://t.co/Pa7C4a94q0
Photo: @BeelWout pic.twitter.com/FNiBdA2pN3
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) June 27, 2022
The management feels that they have achieved a balance in their team:
Overall, the race has something for everyone, and that’s why we are going there with a balanced team
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Featured Image Via Twitter/ Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
