It is now official, Julian Alaphilippe will not be at the start of the 2024 Tour de France. In a video published on X (formerly Twitter), the Frenchman from the Soudal Quick-Step team announced that he would take part in the Tour de Slovakia (June 26 to 30, 2024).
At the beginning of June, Patrick Lefévère (general manager of the Soudal Quick-Step team) cast doubt on the presence or not of Julian Alaphilippe in the 2024 Tour de France (June 29-July 21, 2024). The doubt no longer exists since the Frenchman has announced his participation in the Tour of Slovakia (June 26 to 30, 2024), which ends the day after the start of the Grande Boucle.
Alaphilippe knows the Tour of Slovakia well
“Hello everyone, it’s Julian. I’m really happy to announce that I’m coming back for the Tour of Slovakia. I have very good memories of my last participation and I hope to see you there,” said the French.
The “very good memories” mentioned by Julian Alaphilippe date back to 2018, the year when he won the general classification of the Tour of Slovakia, after notably winning the first stage.
This year, the Soudal Quick-Step rider will inevitably be expected, two months after the end of a Giro (Tour of Italy) where he found great form, notably winning the twelfth stage between Martinsicuro and Fano. Alaphilippe seems to have come out of his complicated period and will look to continue to enjoy the Tour of Slovakia next week.
