Tour de France 2025: Kévin Vauquelin, the summer hit

All you have to do is take your eyes off the road. The verges, since the start of the Tour, have been blooming with his name. The French, who have been on a strict diet since the big start in Lille, have smelled a potential predator. Kévin Vauquelin, 24, is the refrain of a summer that began in mid-June, on the roads of the Tour de Suisse, where he was only beaten in the general classification by João Almeida on the evening of the final time trial. But it was in Italy, at the top of the slope of a sanctuary, that of the Madonna di San Luca, at the end of a multi-man breakaway and under the slaps of the sun, that Vauquelin took flight. That was in 2024, and he had won the most beautiful of his ten professional victories, a stage of the Tour de France. "Now, it's clear that he's playing with the big boys," his manager at Arkéa-B & B Hotels, Emmanuel Hubert, told Libération . "I think he's also matured a lot. Little by little, he's really establishing himself as a leader." And the boss continues the cajoling: "When you have someone who attacks, who is willing, I find that very engaging and it's beautiful to look at."