There was no miracle for Kévin Vauquelin on the eighth and final stage of the Switzerland Tour. General leader in the morning of the last stage, the Norman could not do anything to contain JOAO ALMEIDA (UAE Team Emirates XRG) winner of the stage and the general classification in favor of a stratospheric time trial. Despite everything, the 24 -year -old Frenchman extracted from the positive of this race week, despite the disappointment and also takes advantage of this good result to highlight the financial problems that the team is currently experiencing Arkéa-B&B Hotels.
Video – Vauquelin came across a Joao Almeida too strong in Switzerland
“I apologize to you not to get there, I would have wanted so much …”
Author of an admirable race week, Kévin Vauquelin did not go far from offering France its first success on a race by stage of WorldTour level since 2007. However, despite the disappointment, the French still emerges from this event: “I am necessarily disappointed, I had a lot of expectations on myself. I felt a good pressure around me. I apologize for not having got there, I would have wanted so much. The legs were a little bizarre today, I think it does a lot of emotions in a short time, I tried to give the maximum but I felt that it was missing this little notch that we followed someone, when Joao was eaten. That I need to do, in normal individual time, we have the speed that motivates us, which launches us, no, no, less and I felt that I had a little less watts, that's how I have just seen that I was still second, I came by thinking of taking a slap (laughing) and we really did not want to do the general and there we find ourselves to be second in my careers,
With this excellent result, the Norman was also able to alert the media to the extremely precarious situation of his team currently, in search of sponsors: “We are not going to lie that faced with teams like UAE, it's not the same. This is an opportunity to tell you that this week we did not have a cook, we had much fewer means. Why? Because we are in a complicated financial situation, Emmanuel Hubert, it's very complicated for him, but we do it. I hope that, this result with the team, with Cristian who is also second to Andorra Morabanc, And help Emmanuel Hubert and the Arkéa-B & B Hotels team, I think we need it and we show that the staff and the runners give the maximum with the few means that we have to compare with the big training and the big budgets, it is very complicated so I hope that it will be a little desire for some sponsors to come and that we do not know how much Nothing if I will stay next year, for the moment we have French championships and a tour of France to do “, he concluded.
To return to the race,
