"I couldn't feel my legs” – But Kevin Vauquelin is the pride of France at the Tour

Who needs Julian Alaphilippe, Romain Grégoire, or Lenny Martinez when France has Kevin Vauquelin? The Arkea – B&B Hotels rider is quickly becoming one of the standout stories of the 2025 Tour de France. Already a stage winner in 2024, Vauquelin delivered another surprise with a fifth-place finish in Wednesday’s time trial, just 49 seconds behind Olympic and world champion Remco Evenepoel.

Even though that result cost him the white jersey, which Evenepoel now leads, Vauquelin has made it clear he’s not just along for the ride. The young Frenchman is sitting third overall after 5 stages of racing, an unexpected but thrilling position for a rider without general classification ambitions at the start of the race.

“Yeah, we're enjoying it, I admit I'm a bit stoned, it's like a shot of adrenaline. I think that when it lets go of me, it will let go of me," he told Cyclism'Actu. "That is to say, when I lie down on the massage table, I'm going to completely switch off. It's pure happiness, it's almost unbelievable, so much is happening, there's so much support. We see the world crowding around me, chanting my name and looking at me with fervor and shivers, it gives me even more shivers.”

Still in white, still with a stage win already in the bag, and now in the top three on GC, Vauquelin is taking a day-by-day approach with no grand predictions, just an eagerness to seize whatever opportunities come his way.

“Yeah, it's transcendent, and what's more, it's classy in white (laughs). Having a distinctive jersey in the Tour de France is already incredible, now I'm third overall, even if it only lasts a day or a week, it's just incredible.”

“For now we want to win a stage, we'll see how we can do it. It will be by leg, trapping the leaders or trying in a breakaway, we'll see how it goes. As I said, each day is enough trouble for the other and we'll take it day by day. A Grand Tour is long, you never know how it might go. Last year it went very well at the beginning and then I got sick. I'm enjoying every day, enjoying my legs, because we don't always have the best legs and at times we can feel a bit down.”

His performance in the time trial, despite minimal data monitoring, was driven more by instinct and energy than metrics.

"I couldn't feel my legs. My legs hurt a little but my body, my heart, my lungs were still in reserve, it was incredible. These supporters, all the support, it's incredible, I'm in heaven, thank you all. I set a time that wasn't bad, I think it was one of my best times and I'm enjoying it, I don't even have the words. I managed by simply pushing. I didn't look at the watts, the only times I looked was to avoid going too fast at the beginning.

“Afterwards I didn't look at anything, I saw that it was pushing, it was going. People were telling me: 'pull up a notch', I had strength, my legs don't hurt at the moment but tonight I'm going to be in pain everywhere when the adrenaline starts fall back, but it's incredible to experience that, I think I would thank Christian Prudhomme for doing that for us, going home is very emotional."

It’s been a dream first week for Vauquelin, who continues to surprise many, just not those closest to him.

“It's good to have people who know about cycling, even my relatives, the people I grew up with, who aren't that surprised. It's still reassuring, we tell ourselves that the work is paying off and that progress continues.”