Wounded at the ankle after falling on the stairs, Kévin Vauquelin could not take part in the Lisieux criterium on Tuesday. But the Frenchman from Bayeux still wanted to come to meet his audience. And he was able to measure his popularity coast.
Seventh in the last Tour de France which ended on Sunday, Kévin Vauquelin was expected on his bike on Tuesday on the occasion of the Lisieux Critérium. But the fate decided otherwise: injured in the ankle after a fall by descending the stairs, the Frenchman from Bayeux could not take part in this exhibition race which brought together among others Jordan Jegat and Ben Healy, respectively 10th and 9th in the Grande loop.
This did not prevent the Norman, practically at home on the occasion of this meeting, from coming to meet his audience. “The pressure is not really coming back down, it’s still a little early. I was in a hurry to arrive at these moments of sharing to realize what really happened. The tiredness stroke will not be too long,” said the first French in the general classification of the Grande loop.
“Enjoy, simply”
It is precisely after the time trial in Caen, in his native Normandy, that Kevin Vauquelin is temporarily climbed on the general’s podium and began to mingle with the struggle for the general classification.
“It was incredible, to pass on your natal and training roads, it is incredible, in addition to being better young at one point, top 5 of the general classification, it was a crazy experience. In Bayeux, I had a hot air balloon in my effigy,” he recalls. “I didn’t think I was able to do that, that’s what I wanted in the future but it happens so quickly, it’s just the fruit of work, over a few years.”
What make its side of popularity jump, as he could see in Lisieux where more than 20,000 people were present. And in the midst of spectators, his name was present on everyone’s lips. Coming with a smile, but also the crutches, Kévin Vauquelin was able to take his first crowd bath since the end of the tower, he who has decompressed with his family for the past two days. “I took advantage of being with my parents, his brother, to see her cats and her dog, to eat the house quietly, something other than pasta, rice and chicken. Just talk about what happened and simply enjoy.”
Back for the world championships
Tuesday, his team Arkea B&B had announced in a statement on social networks that the 24 -year -old runner had been the victim of a domestic accident and that he “fractured the distal end of the fibula”. In the evening, the Frenchman unveiled the reason for his injury, especially to end rumors and speculation, he who joked on arrival at the Champs-Elysées on the way he was going to celebrate his big performance on the Tour de France. “For more precision, it is by descending the stairs with my suitcase and not in the evening,” he clarified, in the tone of humor by identifying the “French federation of losses”.
After a forced rest of a few weeks, the one who has become one of the French darlings will take over the competition at the world road cycling championships in Rwanda, from September 21 to 28.
