Philippe Gilbert has confirmed that he won't do the Tour de France this year. The former world champion will focus on the second half of the season, with the world championships being his main goal.

All year BMC and Philippe Gilbert have indicated that the former world champion will skip the 2014 Tour de France. According to L'Equipe, Gilbert has now confirmed that he won't be at the start line in Yorkshire.

In a quest to find back to his former level, Gilbert has done less racing this year and tried to focus more clearly on select targets. This new approach saw him skip the Tour of Flanders to prepare specifically for the Ardennes classics and it now also leads to his absence from the Grande Boucle for the first time since 2010.

Gilbert's main target in the second half of the season are the world championships in Ponferrada and he will use the Vuelta a Espana to prepare himself optimally. Instead, the BMC team for the Tour will be built around Tejay van Garderen who will try to improve on his fifth place from the 2012 edition.

Gilbert's next race will be the Ster ZLM Toer which he will use to prepare for the Belgian championships.