Kévin Vauquelin: "A bitter taste"
Kévin Vauquelin and the Arkéa-Samsic team raced to win the Route Adélie de Vitré, just like Louis Barré who rode an offensive and selfless race. Both are on the podium, but without victory, which leaves a bitter taste for the whole team, which has been involved in all the battles throughout this event.
Photo Arkéa-Samsic: BenjaminCroizet
On the ligne
“I played, I lost… when I let Bryan take over the chase. But that’s the way it is. I race to win, but I can’t and won’t be satisfied with a second place, especially since we were racing at home. I would like to thank the whole Arkéa-Samsic team and Louis Barré who worked hard for me in the final. I tried everything in the last kilometres to catch the winner of the day and I didn’t miss much. It’s annoying to finish so close to the finish. It’s bitter taste. It’s disappointing because I had great legs, I don’t race to get a podium, but to win races, without wanting to seem pretentious. I want to remember a great team and a great race from Louis Barré. And many tanks to the fans »
“This is my very first podium in a professional race. But we were racing here to win. I had a very long breakaway and I felt that the more kilometres went by, the better I was. The wind made the race harder, it came from the front, from the side. When I saw Kevin’s group coming back behind us, I stopped riding so that he could get back as soon as possible. It was good to be in the breakaway with Kévin”.
The briefing
“There is the satisfaction of having seen the team do a great job together today. But of course we have mixed feelings. Our ambition was to win this Route Adélie de Vitré. We lined up at the start of the races for that. If we had finished one minute behind, but now we have Kevin who has just missed out on first place by two seconds. The feelings that dominate this evening fluctuate between bitterness and satisfaction to have seen the team being strong on a collective level in this race”.