What courage yet to Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea-B & B Hotels)! If he has not played the first roles on this 19th stage of the Tour de Franceending far from the winner of the day, Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), the Norman once again spent the day fighting with himself to save his 7th place in the general classification. The Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (UNO-X Mobility) has certainly passed to him, but the Frenchman himself doubled the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the classification, in great difficulty in the final rise in La Plagne. He thus retains his 7th place, a position he should keep until the arrival in Paris, while the last two stages do not contain major difficulties.
“I really feel that we are in the third week”
After arrival, Kévin Vauquelin returned to his performance: “I still limited the breakage today, unfortunately we took a bad break in the descent of the Col du Pré, Uno-X took the opportunity to ride, but frankly we would have done the same in their place. It was a beautiful fight with Tobias. I was really not well at the beginning, but Ewen (Costiou) and Raul (Garcia) were again extraordinary. La Plagne I fought, the legs came back, and the rain helped me to feel slightly better..
He continues on his beginning of a difficult stage and on this struggle for the general who ends: “From the first pass, I quickly saw that it was a bit of a mess. I told Ewen to ride a little when I saw Johannessen go out, logical I did not want to lose my place to the general. I felt that I was not well, but as I used to start, that's why on such a short stage was a little hard. It was a fight against myself. Passed.he concludes.
