Julian Alaphilippe withdraws from Tour de Suisse and returns to France
Jun 13 2021 12:42 am CET
Photo of Julian Alaphilippe (c) Wout Beel
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) has withdrawn from the Tour de Suisse after the end of the seventh stage to return to France.
After a successful individual time trial in which he finished in the second position 40 seconds behind the day's winner Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) the rider has left the race to return to his home country. The reason behind this is that his partner Marion Rousseau -journalist and former cyclist- is going to give birth to their first child.
"The plan is for Julian to give up on the race after the time trial because the baby is expected on Monday," said Patrick Lefevere, CEO of Deceuninck-Quick-Step, in his column in the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
The World Champion withdraws from the race as he stands in the third overall position, 39 seconds behind Richard Carapaz (Ineos-Grenadiers). This competition is a preparation for one of Alaphilippe's main objectives for the season: the Tour de France, after which he will get ready for the World Championships in Leuven, Belgium.
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