Mixed emotions for France: Vauquelin and Alaphilippe impress, Grégoire struggles

The 22-year-old Grégoire won the opening stage and wore the yellow leader's jersey for days but crashed in Thursday's queen stage. The French climber finished almost seven minutes behind stage winner Oscar Onley and second-placed João Almeida, leaving Grégoire suddenly in thirteenth place in the GC. “I was just exhausted, already on the first lap of the final circuit. I had no energy left, even though I did everything I could,” he said in his analysis after the race.

Grégoire had shown no signs of weakness in the first five days, so his sudden collapse was a surprise. “Valentin (Madouas, ed.) helped me on the flat to limit the damage, but on the last climb, I was alone. With such steep gradients, I couldn't do anything; I was completely exhausted. I had no expectations for the GC and knew it would be difficult, but I had hoped for less damage. With a stage win, however, this is still a successful race.”

The yellow jersey changed shoulders on Thursday but remained in French hands. Vauquelin couldn't believe his luck at Arkéa-B&B Hotels as the new leader in the GC. “Finally, the yellow jersey,” sighed the 24-year-old climber to L'Equipe. “I've been working towards this for years, and it's now paying off. As a teenager, I mainly rode smaller races, which meant that my body lacked the experience of such strenuous efforts as today's for a long time. I think I've reached a turning point.”

Vauquelin won a stage in the Tour de France in 2024 and was a stage and overall winner in the Star of Bessèges and the Région Pays de la Loire Tour this season. That will bode well for the Tour in July. “I knew today would be an important day, so I wanted to focus on myself and my efforts. I did that on the final climb because I felt really good. Julian Alaphilippe's attack caused me to lose ground on Oscar, but I climbed well.”

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Alaphilippe is in second place in the GC, 29 seconds behind Vauquelin. What a boost for France, even though Loulou also lost time on Onley and Almeida in the final. The 33-year-old puncher from Tudor had his attacking spirit on the final climb to thank for that. “I stayed true to myself. I felt good and wanted to accelerate, but I quickly reached my limit. As a result, I lost a lot of time towards the top.”

Would he have been better off if he had conserved his energy a little better? "I'm glad I ended up in that first group and never expected to be in contention for the overall classification. I have a nice lead over the guys behind me, so I'll keep fighting for the team. We'll do our best so that we have no regrets on Sunday. Hopefully, I can still win because the feeling is good."