Vauquelin’s victory creates a festive mood at Arkéa-B&B Hotels: “It’s great, also for the team”

Kévin Vauquelin secured the victory of his life in the Tour de France on Sunday. The all-rounder who rides for Arkéa-B&B Hotels turned out to be the strongest of the leading group in the tough hill stage to Bologna. “I win the second stage of the Tour. That is wonderful, also for the team. It is the first victory for our team in the Tour,” the winner shouts in the flash interview.

The victory came somewhat unexpectedly for Vauquelin. The number two in this year’s Flèche Wallonne had not had a great preparation. “It’s fantastic. It was a tough day. I didn’t feel so good earlier in the Tour of Switzerland. But today everything went perfectly.”

“The peloton let us go,” Vauquelin continues. In the breakaway, he had the advantage of being with his teammate Christian Rodríguez, also a strong climber. On the first pass of the steep San Luca, the Spaniard did a lot of preparatory work. “Rodríguez did a great job,” the 23-year-old praises his teammate. “There was a lot of power behind his attack. When Laurance (Axel, ed.) attacked, I felt like I still had a lot left in my legs. When I finally got away with Abrahamsen and Oliveira (Jonas and Neilson, ed.), I knew it was the right moment.”

Vauquelin: “I’ve often asked about the time differences”

The trio broke away between the two passes of the San Luca. On paper, Vauquelin was by far the best climber of the three, and he proved it on the San Luca. He started the flat final stage with a lead of about fifty seconds, and from that moment on, nothing could really go wrong. “I didn’t believe it would work out until very late in the stage. I often asked about the time differences,” said Vauquelin, who clearly didn’t have much confidence in his victory.

Vauquelin has been regarded as a great talent for years, who particularly excels in stage races and challenging one-day races. The Tour stage is his third professional victory. He previously won the general classification of the Tour du Var and the Tour du Jura, a one-day race.

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Team manager Didier Rous was clearly happy with the Tour victory for his team. “It’s the first. We know how difficult it is to win a Tour stage. Yesterday was a tough day for us, but no day is the same. We knew that today things could go well. Today it went our way and We are very happy with that.” Vauquelin’s victory has clearly aroused the appetite for more, because Rous is already thinking about Monday, a sprint stage to Turin. “Maybe we can also go for the stage victory tomorrow with Démare (Arnaud, ed.). That would make the story even better.”