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Tour de France 2025

Saturday 12 July: Stage 8 Saint-Méen-le-Grand - Laval

By car: 345 km
By bike: 0 km

Tat: Mondial Relay bag

Up fairly early again this morning because I’ve got a half-hour drive to get to the start of today’s stage before the Caravan leaves. Though pity the poor E.Leclerc team who were staying in Dinan again last night. Yesterday they got up early, drove 30 km to Saint-Malo, to drive back through Dinan, 200 km along the route - including one on a quad bike that was disguised as a strawberry - and then drive 100 km back to Dinan. And it all starts again with a 35 km drive this morning to Saint-Méen-le-Grand.

Stage starts are definitely for seekers of Caravan tat. There’s lots of exhibitions and opportunities to win things - nearly all by spinning a wheel. If the team coaches are in the right position, you might see some of the riders getting ready to sign on, but the whole thing is largely ceremonial. Last year, I watched the great and good of Agen getting hammered at 10:30am in hospitality. They tend to screen that sort of stuff off if they can. Still, it’s another facet of this year’s Tour ticked off.

I’m at the start today because I really need an early exit. I’ve got to drive 330 km on a Saturday on a bank holiday weekend which will be the busiest time on French roads. The distance between stages are starting to get enormous now and I don’t want to be arriving at my Ibis for hotel in Châtellerault in the dark.

One of the things the Tour does very well is honouring its heritage. We’re in the small Breon town of Saint-Méen-le-Grand because of one person - Louison Bobet, three times Tour winner 1953-1955. There’s a museum to his memory here, and along with Bernard Hinault is one of the greats of local cycling. To be honest, even though starts aren’t that exciting, the organisation here was a little chaotic. Either that, or way more people turned up than expected - equally plausible. The Water Tower commemorates Theodore Botrel - a singer-songwriter popular in the Great War, who lived here as a child.

 

We need to talk about Kevin

This year, France has a new rising star. A French rider famously hasn’t won the Tour since 1985, and the recent crop of hopefuls including Romain Bardet, Julian Alaphilippe, and Thibaut Pinot have either retired or are in the twilight of their careers. However, this year, France has found a new hero in the name of 24 year-old Kévin Vauquelin, and ‘Allez Kevin’ signs are appearing everywhere. However, there is a problem with Kévin, and his older, fellow French rider Bryan Coquard. It’s their names.

The mere mention of ‘Kevin’ and especially ‘Bryan’ can immediately reduce the French to tears.

Kevin (or Kévin) has its roots in Celtic culture, which has always appealed to the French with strong Brittany traditions. In the 1990s a whole slew of Kevins became famous - Kevin Costner (actor), Kevin McCallister (the child hero in Home Alone), Kevin Richardson (Backstreet Boys singer), and even Kevin Keegan (footballer), and Kevin became a popular birth name - more than 13,000 babies were named Kevin in 1991, and it was the top boy’s name between 1989 and 1994. But those Kevins grew up, and because many were born to working-class families who tended to favour American culture, a ‘Kevin stereotype’ grew up - someone with a mullet haircut, Hawaiian shirt, cheap fast car. “I was at a friend’s wedding and when the mayor read out the groom’s middle name, Kevin, the simple mention of it sparked massive laughter from the guests”. This is Kevin Fafournoux, who crowdfunded a film project called Save the Kevins. The stereotype is so strong that there are now just single-digit registrations of the name each year.

But it’s the name Bryan that can really gets French people giggling. If you simply say “Bryan is in the kitchen” they will be rolling on the floor with laughter. There are whole comedy routines based around the phrase “Bryan is in the kitchen”.

So the French now have a dilemma. They want to cheer on their heroes Bryan and especially Kevin. But they also need to swallow their laughter in doing so.

Likely spot me tomorrow at : Chatellerault - 128 km remaining 

Tomorrow's T-shirt: Grey Tour de France 2019

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