Despite his fall at the Vuelta, defending champion Julian Alaphilippe is in the French squad for the World Championships in Australia (September 18-25).
The 30-year-old dislocated his shoulder almost two weeks ago on the 11th stage of the Tour of Spain and still wants to fight for his third world title in a row – after a season full of accidents and failures.
Alaphilippe had already fallen at the Strade Bianche one-day race in Italy in March, and missed Milan-Sanremo due to bronchitis. In the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the professional from the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team suffered a broken shoulder blade, two fractured ribs and a lung injury in a serious fall. He missed the Tour de France and fell ill with COVID-19.
“He saw more hospitals than races,” said team manager Patrick Lefevere, who would have liked to have reported Alaphilippe for the Tour of Lombardy (from October 8). But the world champion of 2020 and 2021 wants to try to drive the hat trick at the road world championships in Wollongong in the state of New South Wales.