Winner of the second stage, Sunday, in Bologna, Kevin Vauquelin, 23, sees bigger.
Winner of the second stage, Sunday, in Bologna, Kevin Vauquelin, 23, sees bigger.
The Tour de France got off to a perfect start for the French riders. After Romain Bardet, on Saturday, who enjoyed the first day of his career in yellow, it was Kevin Vauquelin who won on Sunday in Bologna. A rare performance since we even have to go back to 1968 to find traces of two French riders who won the first two stages of the Tour.
The French riders have already done better than the last two years, when the French each time had to be content with a single stage success. The Blues, on the other hand, will have difficulty shining in the general classification. David Gaudu, expected to be the best French chance, in fact faltered from the first stage in the company of Lenny Martinez and found himself half an hour behind.
“He says it openly”
From now on, since Romain Bardet should not hesitate to lose time to have free rein in the breakaways, only Guillaume Martin seems able to play for a place in the Top 10. That’s not much and demonstrates the difficulties for the French to shine in the big tours. However, some do not lack ambition, like… Kevin Vauquelin.
Yvon Caër, his former coach at Arkea-Samsic, revealed that the Norman did not set limits for himself. To the point of visibly imagining being able to win the Tour de France. “ Make 5th or 10th in the Tour, why not. But we will not take away this ambition, one day, to win. He says it openly, and I think he’ll put that into his head now that he’s won a stage, he confided in the columns of
The team, specifying nevertheless: “But he still has work to do in the very high mountains.”
And the one who now officiates at Groupama-FDJ adds: “I think he’s more of a puncher or even a climber, he’s always surprised us and he can always surprise us.”
