Julian Alaphilippe had already given the game away on Alpe d’Huez.
“There is nothing official, but you shouldn’t expect to see me again,” he told reporters on the penultimate stage of the Tour de France. A month later the 34-year-old has made it official, giving up the final season of a contract that ran to the end of 2027 and ending his career with immediate effect.
The decision was first reported by Dutch site Wielerflits and confirmed by L’Équipe. It closes one of the most decorated Classics careers of the last decade: two world titles (Imola 2020, Leuven 2021), six Tour de France stage wins, a Milan-Sanremo, a Strade Bianche and three victories in La Flèche Wallonne.
From yellow jersey to 125th
The Frenchman’s slide has been slow and public. He wore the yellow jersey for 14 days in 2019 and finished fifth in Paris. This year, he crossed the line in the French capital more than three hours off the lead and 125th on general classification, and never once threatened a stage.
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Dropped on a category-four climb
On stage 11 to Nevers on 15 July, Alaphilippe rolled home last, shelled from an early breakaway on a category-four climb.
“There is clearly something wrong. He is dragging himself around,” former French rider Jérôme Pineau told Cycling Up To Date.
“The Julian era is over. It has become too difficult for him to have an impact and it is sad.”
Former professional Jérôme Coppel gave a similar verdict to the same site.
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“I didn’t recognise him. He has lost his joy for life,” Coppel said.
A year left on the Tudor deal
Alaphilippe’s own post-stage 20 verdict was blunt. Asked about the race, he told Cycling Weekly it had been his goodbye.
Retiring mid-contract is the sharp edge of the story. Alaphilippe joined Tudor Pro Cycling from Soudal Quick-Step at the start of 2025 on a deal running to the end of 2027, and delivered his final win at the Grand Prix de Québec that September. He is giving up a full season of guaranteed racing rather than drag out a career that no longer produced the results, or the fun, that had defined it.
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Alaphilippe built his name refusing to sit up, punching clear on the Mur de Huy and wearing the rainbow jersey deep into the Tour of Flanders until a course-marshal collision ended it. There is no farewell tour, no last home Classic, no lap of honour at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. His verdict to idlprocycling was as flat as the exit itself: “It’s not fun anymore. It’s okay, it’s over.”
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