Kevin Vauquelin, winner of the second stage of the 2024 Tour de France: “It’s completely crazy, yesterday I was at rock bottom. We had a perfect day. I’ve had some difficult weeks with disappointments, even though I had a good level in the French championship. At the Tour de Suisse I wasn’t good. I knew that on the climb I was more “punchy” than them. I’m going to thank Cristian (Rodriguez, his teammate, who left with him in the breakaway, Editor’s note) who put a lot of power throughout the race, doing the relays, animating the breakaway, and then controlling everything.”
Bardet: “I was in my place in the bump”
Romain Bardet, on France 2, after losing his yellow jersey: “I still remember a great day. It’s in the nature of things today to lose the jersey. I was in my place on the climb today. I couldn’t have accompanied Pogacar and Vingegaard. The team did a great job, my legs were sore from yesterday. Very happy to see a second French victory.”
Christian Guiberteau, DSM sports director, after Bardet’s day in yellow: “It’s always an honour to have a yellow jersey, it’s something to be respected. It was fabulous, we enjoyed it. We knew it would be complicated in the final, we did things as best we could. We also have the respect of the other teams, we received a lot of congratulations. In cycling, you really have to appreciate moments like yesterday. Reality is tough, so you have to refocus very quickly. It’s a lot of emotions.”
Tadej Pogacar, new yellow jersey of the Tour: “Jonas Vingegaard was right on my wheel, you can see he was in great shape. It’s going to be interesting in the coming stages. I launched a small attack at the top of the last climb. To test myself too, not just to test the others. I would have preferred to go alone, but Remco (Evenepoel) and Richard Carapaz were not far away, and they came back in the last kilometer. It was quite close in fact, and with the heat some suffer a little more than others sometimes. Roglic slightly distanced? He is a specialist in three-week races, you should not underestimate him.”
