Kévin Vauquelin missed the Top 10, in the road race of the French Championship in Saint-Martin-de-Landelles (see ranking). The Arkéa-B&B Hôtels runner was inevitably frustrated a few moments after finishing. “There is disappointment, but Paul (Lapeira) ran well. It was predictable, he was at home and has a sense of racing. I was not able to get a head start. is marked by several, a little too much”, he analyzes hotly. It is this head start that the Norman was looking for. “It was the goal but I wasn’t placed at the right time. It’s certain that if I had seen Paul raise his ass I would have gone there. But I had a moment of latency, I didn’t ‘I didn’t know how to jump at the chance’.
“YOU SHOULD NOT BELIEVE, THERE IS A BIG LEVEL IN FRANCE”
It was three laps from the end that the good shot flew. “I didn’t see it well. I was focused on my placement and my effort management. But maybe in wanting to manage, I did it too much… Behind that were big attacks. We made no difference, it was fractional and lactic”. Indeed, no one manages to organize themselves and the strongest men each try in turn. “The numerical superiorities of AG2R and Groupama were complicated to manage. It was the same for Sandy Dujardin or Julian (Alaphilippe). Julian was strong but he got a little angry, it was complicated to organize well against the big ones. stables”.
The situation was frozen. “I knew it was going to be complicated. When I saw a minute a lap or two from the goal, with Paul and Julien in front who are in great shape… It’s complicated. You shouldn’t believe, there at a high level in France, making an attack, coming back alone in front and then winning, it’s very complicated.”. And even if the fugitives had been recaptured, it is not certain that Kévin Vauquelin would have had the necessary exit voucher. “I didn’t really believe it. I fought until the end, I tried. Because even if we come back in front, who will attack? Benoit Cosnefroy or Pierre Gautherat? Or Madouas or Grégoire? That’s what’s always complicated in a French Championship in general.”.
“I WAS IN A RUSH TO EXPRESS MYSELF 100%”
The rest of the peloton would have had to come to an agreement to close the gap. “Each time we did the bumps at full speed and then it was a matter of course. Whereas the escapees did not do the climbs at full speed and then rolled. We saw it in the women’s race, as soon as they attacked they came back close and “It was a direct loss of time when it was easier. It was predictable and if we had come back some of the guys might have been fresher than us since we were putting in big attacks.”, he analyzes. Kévin Vauquelin therefore leaves with his silver medal in the time trial, beaten by three seconds. “I was very vindictive, I had the knife between my teeth the whole race, I was in a hurry to express myself 100%. It was a failure, but we must keep this desire for the next events”.
The next event will be the Tour de France. His first, he who left the Vuelta after the 15th stage last year for his first Grand Tour. “I think it’s not bad, even if I wasn’t exceptional today. Maybe it was a feeling because I attacked at kilometer 5 and it wasn’t bad, but there are a few runners who decided not to let me go, like an amateur”. Kévin Vauquelin will have to put this French Championship aside and refine his condition to arrive in the best possible condition in Florence. “I’m still missing a little, I’m not 100%”. And yet, the trend is far from catastrophic.
