"I already know..." - Kevin Vauquelin confirms departure from Arkea with Tour as his final race for the team

Kevin Vauquelin's Tour de France performance was one of the very few bright moments of what seems to be Arkéa - B&B Hotels final season in professional peloton. Even without the doubts about the French team's future Vauquelin would very likely head to a new team in 2026, but the uncertainty sealed the deal.

Vauquelin's main regret about the final year with Arkéa is that he will be unable to have a proper farewell with the team that discovered his talent for the world of top cycling as the 24-year-old was kept off the bike due to an injury suffered shortly after the end of Grande Boucle.

"I started using the exercise bike again a few days ago, and it's slowly improving," Vauquelin provides an update on his condition in an interview with L'Équipe. "I'm starting to get fit again, and I'll be taking off my brace in the next few days, because I'm going to the surgeon on Wednesday. Then I'll know if I can ride again, but we always have a tendency to push ourselves too hard."

Vauquelin certainly doesn't want to rush things. "I don't want to suffer from chronic pain later, so the recovery will take quite a while. Because with a month and a half of nothing, you lose everything, especially when you go from doing everything for the Tour to doing nothing at all. It's going to be quite a journey. I still have to strengthen a leg and redo a pelvis."

"You have to know how to make the most of it. I took a vacation with the few things I could do with my ankle," the Frenchman laughs. "I spent time with my girlfriend, my parents, my friends. If I had taken it the wrong way, it wouldn't have helped me."

"I've learned to enjoy what I have, my loved ones, and to stay calm after everything that happened in July. An injury never comes at a good time. I have all winter to work now. If it happens in February, you're just psyching yourself up to prepare for the Tour, for example," the Arkéa rider puts it into perspective.

He doesn't seem to be stressed about his return after all. "I've maintained a healthy lifestyle. If you go to bed a little later and eat a little less, you feel a bit more lethargic, especially if you don't exercise much. That's the case in winter; I feel lethargic," Vauquelin laughs.

The Frenchman would've loved to compete at the big championships this autumn, but that won't be possible. "A month and a half off the bike means three months to get back on track, to get back up to speed." This meant two major goals had to be scrapped. "I wanted to play a role in the World and European Championships, in the time trial and on the road."

"It was the last goal of my season, races I love," the Frenchman continues. "I talked about it with Thomas (Voeckler, the French national coach, ed.), but now it's over. I believe in fate; it wasn't meant to be this year."

The 2025 season is Vauquelin's last in the Arkéa - B&B Hotels jersey, as much he can confirm. The team is on the verge of disbanding at the end of the year and the Frenchman would've certainly liked to say goodbye to the formation where he grew up in a better fashion than being unable to compete.

"I'll say it in my own words: I'm not happy about it," he says about the injury. "Ending an adventure like this is a shame in itself, even though we finished the Tour on a high note. But I would have liked to finish this season with the team, with the staff, with whom I'm still in touch."

The question then becomes: which team will Vauquelin be riding for next year? It seems likely to be INEOS Grenadiers, but: "I already know, I just can't say yet," says the Frenchman. "I chose a team I instinctively wanted to join. Just like with Arkéa... (four years ago, ed.)"