Julien Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) will be wearing his new rainbow stripes for the second time as road race world champion in Brabantse Pijl, Belgium, on Wednesday.

Liège has been on his wish list for some time, but made a number of mistakes on Sunday, finishing only fifth.

Keeping top form from the Tour de France through the World Championships to Liège and on into October is a big challenge, but Alaphilippe is sure to stick to his crowd-pleasing approach of reaping the rewards while the sun is shining.

His main competition will be last year's winner Mathieu van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix), 2018 champion Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), and 2017 champion Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren), but Alaphilippe, supported by a strong team that includes Dries De Venance, Andrea Bajori and Mauri Vansevenan.

"Brabantse Pijl is a great race with lots of climbs, much of it packed into the final circuit, and there will be a lot of action," Deceuninck-QuickStep Director Sportif Wilfried Peeters told the team's website.

"Our team is strong and we have many riders who can support Julien, but he is not the only one who can compete in the final. We have a strong group of riders at the start of this race, but we will go in with confidence and motivation to show what we can do and get a good result."

Deceuninck-QuickStep for 2020 Brabantse Pijl: Julien Alaphilippe, Andrea Bajori, Dries Devenyns, Ian Garrison, Yannick Steimle, Zdenek Stybar, Mauri Vansevenin