Kévin Vauqelin 🇫🇷

Rider Type: Climber / Puncheur / GC - Age: 21 - Weight/Height: 39.20 kg/m

France's next great hope. Given that Julian Alaphilippe seems like he's chatted extensively with Sagan about early retirement and quiet quitting - they most certainly need another French prospect for the Tour de France.

Did we mention that Thibaut Pinot is retiring this year to raise sheep? Yeh. The French most certainly need another contender.

After we watched the Tour du Jura yesterday in the wet and foggy French spring weather we also were excited that he could be our next great hope for our betting picks. Why did Vauquelin have to go ahead and win though? He's so much less likely he'll be given value odds henceforth 🙃.

And while Vauquelin did have an epically strong lead out from another one of his Arkea teammates on the final climb, when he went, he looked strong.

Team

Arkea, who Vauqelin is sign on to through 2025, isn't that strong a squad, but neither is it a weak squad. A French team, it almost has a Uno-X like necessity to sign French riders (but it's not written in law like for Uno-X/Norwegians). The names you'll note are Barguil, Champoussin and Hofstetter (sprinter), alongside Vauqelin.

Unfortunately thought, there's not enough true super domestiqués for Vauqelin to truly shine in the large grand tour races' general classification (GC) battle compared to other big name teams like INEOS, UAE or Jumbo.

However, the team is strong enough to support Vauqelin for GC attempts in smaller one week multi-day stage races like the Tour du Alps Maritime.

Strengths

Vauqelin has shown he can climb, and all his best performances have been on stages that end with hilly finishes of between 5-10km @ 7.0% or greater.

Vauqelin is also young, and as we mentioned in our Michael Leonard preview, these youngsters know about CdA. What does a low CdA translate to? Strong time trial results. Vauqelin's performance in these is especially impressive given that Arkea doesn't have the best technology compared to some of the larger teams.

When to Bet?

Keep an eye on Vauqelin to perform well in those smaller one week races without the big name teams. As mentioned, any of the French classics or multi day stage races are fair game.

The one major multi day event he competed in against big name teams (Paris-Nice) he only managed to grab 16th on GC with his best stage performance at the race being 5th. So potentially stay away from those for now, unless the odds are truly long and outrageous.

French riders typically perform better in French races. It's similar for Spanish riders at Spanish races and so on. But we've found, for some reason, it means just that little bit more for the French riders. Also if it's Bastille day (July 14th - France's largest holiday), you best be betting on Vauqelin or another stand out French rider for that Tour stage. They always throw in that extra bit of effort.

And of course, if it's a time trial stage, bet anyone under the age of 22. Of which Vauqelin most certainly is, giving France a glimmer of hope for the future.