Kévin Vauquelin 2nd at the top of the Mur de Huy!
Kévin Vauquelin finished 2nd in the Flèche Wallonne at 22 years old. He won the first podium for the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team on an Ardennes classic.
Photos: Getty
“We experienced some tough conditions today which eliminated a lot of favorites. So there were opportunities to be seized. This is what I managed to do. At the start of the 4th and final ascent of the Mur de Huy, I was in Benoît Cosnefroy’s wheel. It was a wheel to take. I waited as long as possible to make my effort. I had done quite a bit of video analysis of winners of the Flèche Wallonne, and I knew that you had to make your effort at the last moment. Maybe I waited a little too much considering the shape I’m in. I don’t want to have any regrets. I finished second in the Flèche Wallonne on my first participation in this event. There is still a touch of disappointment about missing out on victory by so little, but I am happy and satisfied with this second place that I bring to the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team. My 2024 season is going well. We will make a definitive assessment of the Ardennes in the evening of Liège-Bastogne-Liège”.
“A great result, a great satisfaction compared to the Dantesque day that the runners were able to experience. I am happy. We must remember this great second place. She’s there. We are not going to repeat the race, repeat the finale. I want to look ahead. Kévin Vauquelin confirms his start to the season at UCI World Tour level, once again. It’s not a second place on the Flèche Wallonne, an Ardennes classic, which happened by chance. This bodes well for the weekend and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. All the runners of the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team gave today, as much as they were, everything they could. Everyone has their own level. Clément Champoussin had an exceptional race. He was there all the time. He followed the instructions and helped Kévin at the foot of the fourth and final ascent of the Mur de Huy. It is the satisfaction of a duty accomplished, and the instructions respected by all, which are the fruit of this great performance achieved this afternoon in Huy by Kévin Vauquelin.”
“After Luca Mozzato on the Tour of Flanders, Kévin Vauquelin allows the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team to achieve its second podium in a classic, and to relive a great first this time on the Ardennaises, at the end of the Flèche Wallonne . Kévin showed all his qualities today in a race made extremely difficult by the nature of the course we know, to which were added very difficult weather conditions: rain, hail, and sometimes even snow showers. It is in these types of conditions that very good runners often reveal themselves. Kévin is young but he has been weaving his web for two seasons among professionals in order to join the peloton of the best runners in the world. His second place rewards his very good start to the season. I would also like to underline the full involvement of the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team in this race, and in particular the self-sacrifice shown by Clément Champoussin for the benefit of Kévin Vauquelin throughout the day.”