2019 winner Julian Alaphilippe will return to racing on Tuscany's dirt roads on Saturday at Strade Bianche, leading the Detunink-Quick Step team.

Alaphilippe won last year's race after a showdown with Jacob Fuglsang (Astana) on the steep Santa Catarina road up to the center of Siena. Fuglsang reached the summit first, but Alaphilippe dived past Fuglsang into Piazza Campo to win in an epic race through the Tuscan countryside via a steep dirt road.

Alaphilippe then won Milan-San Remo and La Flèche Wallonne, and spent two weeks in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, winning two stages and finishing fifth overall. the World Tour, which had not raced for five months due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, was back. With the World Tour back on track after a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he has become one of the sport's biggest names, and high expectations are being pinned on him.

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Alaphilippe was originally scheduled to miss this season's Strade Bianche in order to compete in Paris-Nice, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event in Tuscany was postponed from its original date of early March. Mathieu van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix), Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team), Philippe Gilbert (Lot Soudal), and Tadey Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) will be in Siena on Saturday are scheduled to visit Siena on Saturday.

Alaphilippe will miss the Tour de France to participate in the Criterium du Dauphiné in mid-August, but will be in Milan-San Remo (August 8) and the French National Championships (August 23) before the Grand Depart in Nice on August 29. He plans to compete.

The Frenchman will be supported by Zdenek Stival, winner of the 2015 Strade Bianche and a five-time top-10 finisher in this race. Brussels-Coulson-Brussels winners Caspar Asgreen and Bob Jungels will also play important roles in the finale on the steep dirt toad, while Davide Ballerini, Mikel Honoré, and Pieter Serry round out the seven strong Detunink-Quickstep lineup complete the lineup.

Remco Evenepoel will lead Deceuninck-QuickStep's other team, Spain, at the Vuelta a Burgos and will race the Tour de Pollogne and Il Lombardia.

"Winning last year was a great feeling and one of my best memories of the season," Alaphilippe said recently.

"The start was very good until the race came alive in the last hour, I was focused and had a very strong team around me at all times. I love the track and the atmosphere at Strade Bianche and it will be interesting to restart the season there.

Deceuninck-QuickStep recently spent over two weeks in the Italian Dolomites for a high-altitude training camp.

"We have had many good results here in the past, with many riders taking three wins. [but after a great training camp in Val di Fassa, we go into the race with great motivation.

Cycling News will have live coverage of Saturday's Strade Bianche for both men and women, with news and interviews from the finish in Siena. To watch the Strade Bianche (the first classic of the restart) live stream, please use ExpressVPN (opens in a new tab).

Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini, Mikel Honoré, Bob Jungels, Pieter Serry, Zdenek Stival [29]