Britain's Mark Cavendish and France's Julian Alaphilippe have both missed out on a place in the upcoming Tour de France, their Quick-Step team announced Monday.

Double world road cycling champion Alaphilippe only returned to competition on Sunday, two months after suffering multiple fractures in a heavy fall on the Liege-­Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium.

Cavendish, 37, last year equaled Eddy Merckx's Tour de France record of 34 stage wins.

Alaphilippe, 30, has worn the race leader's yellow jersey in the last three editions.

But the Belgian team have opted for Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen, who has 10 wins in 2022, and will be supported by Dane Michael Morkov.

Danish riders Kasper Asgreen, winner of the Tour of Flanders in 2021, and Tour newcomer Mikkel Honore, have also been selected for the three-week race which gets underway in Copenhagen on July 1.

Alaphilippe returned to racing on Sunday in the French championships and helped teammate Florian Senechal to victory.

"I really came to see where I was, to make an effort," said Alaphilippe. 

"I can't say that I had a lot of fun but I was better than I thought, so I'm happy."

Quick-Step sporting director Tom Steels justified Alaphilippe's absence to "give him more time to recover and rebuild his condition, so that he can be 100 percent for the second part of the season."