There’s a green banner strewn across the front of the Joan of Arc school in Bayeux. It was printed specially for Thursday morning – the day the Tour de France came to town – and shows an old yearbook photo of a cropped-haired teenager. Alongside, there’s a stock picture of a cyclist, and a French tricolour, both apt symbols for the occasion. “Allez Kévin,” the banner reads. “Our former pupil.”
The barriers in front of the school trace 100m up to a car park, where the team paddock has assembled. In the middle, Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ bus is lively with reporters – a rare occurrence for the Tour’s French minnows. The press haven’t come to speak to the riders, though, nor the team bosses, but rather the family of Kévin Vauquelin, the local sweetheart, whose home is just a few pedal strokes from stage six’s départ.
