Alaphilippe, who unveiled his program on Monday on the occasion of the presentation of the Quick-Step team, will line up at the start of the Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, two classics won in 2019, with in the meantime Tirreno- Adriatico.

Unlike the two previous seasons, the Frenchman will ignore the Tour of Flanders in order to better prepare the Ardennes classics, the Flèche Wallonne which he has won three times, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the " monument "which escapes him regularly since his second place in 2015.

"I will come back to the Flandriennes one day, that's for sure," said Alaphilippe (29) whose second part of the season will be devoted to the Tour de France in July and then to the world championship, scheduled for the end of September in Australia.

"I will go to the Tour to + perform +, for stage victories first," announced the double reigning world champion.

"We don't have the team for the general classification, that's not the goal."

The Tour for the stages

"After that, if I find myself in a good position, I know that I will give the maximum, a bit like in 2019. But stage victories remain the main objective", added Alaphilippe, who has acquired his habits on the Grande Boucle since 2018 (six stages, eighteen days in yellow).

In parallel, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, the other big name of the Belgian team of Patrick Lefevere, will start with the Tour de Valence in Spain (February 2 to 6).

He will continue with the Tour of the Algarve in Portugal before meeting Alaphilippe in Tirreno-Adriatico (March 7 to 13) then to the Tour of the Basque Country (April 4 to 9) and to the "Ardennes".

The Deceuninck rider Julian Alaphilippe on the Tour de France in Saint-Emilion, July 17, 2021 Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

Evenepoel, who took part in the Giro last year (retirement), for his first experience of a grand tour, plans to compete this year in the Vuelta, from August 19 to September 11.

It is not planned for the Tour de France.

"I was able to work this winter, I'm happy to have been able to progress rather than spending time on rehabilitation," said Evenepoel, whose previous offseason had been mainly devoted to recovering from his serious fall in the summer. 2020 in the Tour of Lombardy.

"I still have some pain, I changed my position on the bike a bit, but it's going like that," added the young Belgian rider, who will be celebrating his 22nd birthday on January 25.

© 2022 AFP