When Kevin Vauquelin crossed the finish line of the Olympic race on Saturday, August 3, the Frenchman had the Eiffel Tower behind him for the postcard and two friends drunk with happiness in front for the memories of his old age. “Valentin [Madouas] and Christophe [Laporte] tell me they’re second and third. That’s great, I had no idea where we were at.”said the Norman, “rinsed by the climbs of Montmartre”but almost as happy as during his stage victory in the Tour de France, on June 30 in Bologna (Italy).
This is also the charm of a bike without earphones: the pleasure of surprise. For the French team, it is rather good with the silver and bronze medals of Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte; the first since 1956 in the men’s road race and Arnaud Geyre, Olympic vice-champion in Melbourne, Australia. Two riders on the podium out of four at the start, the ratio is quite remarkable for the French who are far from being the favorites.
But the Blues have a secret weapon: their coach Thomas Voeckler. “I’m not going to lie, race tactics take up a lot of my time in my head”, he confided to the World in 2021. Plan A, B, C or D. The Vendéen is capable of reciting the cycling alphabet. A rider with modest means at the start, Voeckler had built up a champion’s record with his “face”, a few bluffs and his racing knowledge.
The coach has kept his hand in. His record as a strategist for French men’s cycling already spoke for him before these Games: two world champion titles with Julian Alaphilippe (2020 and 2021), two European titles in 2023 with the mixed relay and Christophe Laporte (also vice-world champion in 2022). At the finish, Voeckler the team leader resembles the Voeckler the rider: a joker and a joker in front of the microphones. “But of course it’s okay, what’s this question from a novice journalist? The best runner won [le Belge Remco Evenepoel] and behind the guys fought hard to get silver and bronze. We have no regrets.”
The bouncer Christophe Laporte
Despite Julian Alaphilippe being a potential candidate for victory, the boss of the Blues had asked his men to run hidden for the first two thirds of a 273 km race. “You shouldn’t have worked at the front of the peloton to avoid burning a guy. The breakaway could have taken three quarters of an hour and I would have always said I wouldn’t come and ride.”, says Voeckler. The second part of the plan was to follow the racing movements during the three laps of the Paris circuit. “The idea was to always be one step ahead and to restore situations when they were unfavorable”, confirms Vauquelin.
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