Vauquelin was not aiming for the GC and explains his goals for the third week: "I'm not a top five rider in the mountains"

"The feeling of the first two weeks has been mixed, because we didn't get off to as good a start as we had hoped," the 24-year-old Frenchman begins with a big smile. "No, just kidding! It's really positive, both in terms of our performance and the results. We're in a good flow."

If we had told the rider from Bayeux beforehand that he would be where he is now during the second rest day, namely fifth place in the GC, he would not have believed us. "In fact, before the Tour, I told the sports directors not to ask me to compete for the GC, that I didn't want to. Yet that is now the case. “Because it's the Tour, because it's all happening,” explains Vauquelin. “When I was little and watched the Tour on TV, I dreamed of being in that group of the top five, top ten. I'm there, and that's exceptional.”

As number five in the GC, the Frenchman is now entering the third week, which will feature challenging Alpine stages. But: “We’re not putting ourselves under pressure. In the mountains, as we saw in the Pyrenees, I'm not in the top five. We'll see how my body reacts in the third week. It will be a complete journey of discovery after riding at the front every day," Vauquelin tempers expectations.

“Will my body and mind be ready?” the Arkéa-B&B rider wonders aloud. “I'm going to give it my all, and we'll see how it goes in the end. If I finish in the top five, that would be exceptional. If it's higher, if it's a white jersey, all the better! We'll fight with all our strength,” he says combatively.

To do so, Vauquelin will first have to tackle Mont Ventoux, which is already on the program for Tuesday. The Frenchman will mainly rely on the experience of his teammates. “I listen to them, especially Cristian (Rodriguez, ed.). He knows the climb very well. I've never done it before, neither in training nor in a race.” He therefore sees it as “an hour-long time trial.” “I'm going to fight until the end. We're going to try to complete the climb as well as possible and distribute our efforts as best we can.”

If he manages to keep up with the best on Ventoux, it would be another stunning achievement after the first week. "At moments like that, my legs just hurt. I step out of the Tour de France context for a moment, forget the riders I'm riding with, and just say to myself: "Do your best and push yourself to the limit." It's only at the end of the race that we take stock and I tell myself that it's really true and that I really did climb up there with those riders," says Vauquelin, who also recognizes the exceptionally high level of this Tour.

Regardless of the result, the Frenchman has been able to count on tremendous support throughout the Tour. “I'm not blind yet, but I'll soon be deaf,” Vauquelin laughs. "I don't just see them; I try to give them my attention. On the climb to Hautacam, I even started to get tinnitus because they were shouting so loudly. In Superbagnères, I started to struggle and we ended up in a kind of funnel formed by the crowd. I couldn't even feel my legs anymore. I felt so pushed. I see all that support, and that's why I am where I am," he concludes on a positive note.