Deceuninck-QuickStep's Julian Alaphilippe will resume his 2020 season with Strade Bianche on Saturday and Milan-San Remo on August 8. Alaphilippe, the defending champion of both Italian one-day races, admitted that his biggest goals for the second half of the season are the Tour de France in August and September, the World Championship road race a week after the Tour ends, and the "spring" classic races scheduled for October.

"Having won both races in 2019, I am looking forward to both Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo the following weekend," Alaphilippe told L'Equipe on Tuesday. "Even though I haven't been in the same form in these races this year, I'm excited to be able to participate. I don't intend to be in the best form in this first race."

The 28-year-old Frenchman has only one race to participate in August, the Criterium du Dauphiné on August 12-16, and as L'Equipe points out, the Tour, a two- to three-stage race before the start of La Grande Boucle in Nice on August 29 Compared to other riders aiming for the Tour, he will have considerably fewer races left in his legs.

"I love Strade Bianche and San Remo," Alaphilippe explained. He could have gone to the Vuelta a Burgos (July 28-31) instead, but decided to stay in Italy after training camp to avoid too much travel."

Alaphilippe has already stated that he will not be aiming for overall victory in the Tour de France in the near future, but after winning the yellow jersey for two weeks last year and finishing fifth overall, he could test his mettle again in this summer's race and take his fifth stage win.

He will also be looking for his first stage win at the Tour de Flanders, scheduled for October 18.

"You have to be able to adapt and change," he said. Right now, my training is more focused on the Tour than the classics."

"From now until October, there will not be much time for recovery between races, but recovery will be the key to achieving my goals.

"I'll be doing a lot of climbing and descending, which will help me in the road races at the Dauphiné, the Tour, and hopefully the World Championships," said Alaphilippe, the latter of which will be held on a hilly Swiss course on September 27, one week after the Tour.

"To win a stage at the Tour you need confidence, and confidence comes with hard work. I haven't set any specific goals for the August race, but of course winning is always nice." I'm not feeling too stressed, though.

"We don't have any specific plans for the Tour either; 2019 was definitely a special Tour. We are not a team that can fight for the overall and we don't have that in mind, so we are not going to prepare for that," he said. Our goal is to have a good Tour, but we're not going to finish exhausted."