Quick Step Alphavinil is resisting the temptation to add Julien Alaphilippe to its Tour of Flanders lineup, despite his lackluster performance in this spring's cobbled classics.

Alaphilippe was spotted on a training ride with Caspar Asgreen in Flanders this week, sparking speculation that he would be a late addition to Ronde's start list, but the seven-man team announced by Quick Step Alphavinil on Thursday morning did not include this world champion. Alaphilippe owns an apartment in Ronse, which he uses as his training base.

Defending champion Asgreen leads the Quickstep challenge after skipping Dwar door Hlaanderen on Wednesday, Tim Declercq, Yves Lampert, Florian Senechal, Jannik Steimle, and Zdenek Steibal, Bert van Lerberghe will support him.

Alaphilippe has opted to focus on the Ardennes Classics this spring after dropping out of contention to win the 2020 Tour de Flanders.

Quick Step has won this race eight times with Tom Boonen (2005, 2006, 2012), Stein Devolder (2008, 2009), Philippe Gilbert (2017), Niki Terpstra (2018) and Asgreen (2021). but has failed to live up to expectations on the cobbles this season.

Lampert and Stybar abandoned Paris-Nice, while Declercq returned in Dwars door Hlaanderen after more than a month out of competition with pericarditis.

Lampert told Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday that he has no expectations for Sunday's race. 'I can run at a good tempo, but I'm not explosive. Sunday is too fast for me. I'm not strong enough because of the illnesses in the team."

Asgreen finished 10th in the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and 32nd in Ghent-Wevelgem, the team's best result, and after a strong showing at the Strade Bianche in March, where he finished third, he is not one of the many options, He will likely go into the Ronde as the sole leader.

"If you look around the course, not much has changed. The difference, of course, is that the team is not at full strength. But despite that, we have faith that we can be part of the race on Sunday.

"Kasper has proven that he is the best at the moment. Florian and Jannik have also proven that they are ready. Tim, Yves, Zdenek, and Bert know parkour and have a lot of experience.

"Needless to say, we are not the favorites to win this race. We have to run smart to get a good result, but that doesn't mean we don't have confidence."