"It may be a blessing in disguise" - Kevin Vauquelin has positive outlook despite disappointing performance at first Grand Tour

One of the hottest prospects in French cycling, there is a lot of belief in Kevin Vauquelin's potential abilities. Completing his first Grand Tour in 2023 at the Vuelta a Espana, the 22-year-old took the next step in his development.

"It was a learning curve," Vauquelin tells Cyclism'Actu, reflecting positively on what was ultimately a disappointing Grand Tour debut before his abandonment on stage 15. "It's also a good thing that I arrive at a goal, such a big race, with a diminished psychological state and not 100% physical. It allowed me to approach the race with another vision, I think it will serve me well in the years to come. A Grand Tour is not nothing, you can't go there by snapping your fingers. It may be a blessing in disguise."

Despite that poor showing in Spain, there were many positive performances from Vauquelin throughout 2023. "Of course, there were victories in the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var and the Tour du Jura, but I also remember 5th place in Paris-Nice at La Loge des Gardes. It propelled me and allowed me to tell myself that anything is possible," he recalls.

"I fell on the Pays de la Loire Tour region and I had after-effects from this fall, which I did not feel right away. I pushed a lot at the Tour du Jura and the Tour du Doubs and that's when it started to feel tight. And when I arrived at the Tour de Romandie, it was too late. I had psoas tendinopathy. So I left for treatment and rest. It was quite a complicated period, because going from great sensations to not much was not easy to live with. And as soon as we started again, it was complicated, after two months almost without riding," Vauquelin concludes.

"There were a lot of doubts. I wondered... how come I got so high and fell so low? Is it really me? Where am I? We ask ourselves a lot of questions. But on the other hand, at the start of the season, I always said that I was at the top of the wave and that it could go down at any time."