In the Col du Corbier, David Veilleux felt he had the upper hand over his three breakaway companions. Without revealing too much, he took relays that were a little longer and more sustained. When he pulled over, the pace slowed slightly.
First lesson: he was the strongest of the leading quartet he composed with the Spaniard Ricardo Garcia and the French Thomas Damuseau and Jean-Marc Bideau. They fled in a pass from the third kilometer of this first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné of 2013, with departure and arrival in Champéry, in Switzerland.
All representatives of second category teams, the four riders did not represent a threat to the announced leaders of this final preparatory event before the 100e Tour de France, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador in the lead.
Like some of his Europcar teammates, Veilleux had the mission of slipping into a breakaway of this short initial stage of 121 km, where the leading formations would probably not have any interest in bothering with the yellow jersey of game entry.
“I had good feelings, but at this level of racing, I didn’t have too many expectations of our chances,” remembered Veilleux, 10 years to the day since that glorious moment of his (too much? ) short career as a professional cyclist.
“I didn’t think too much about that. I was just trying to make my time in the breakaway, without giving too much either. »
From two minutes at the start, the runaways’ lead gradually increased to six, eight and then 10 minutes. Second lesson: no one in the peloton seemed to want to take the initiative in the hunt.
“For me, that was the trigger. At that point, I was like, “Wait a minute, that’s not the ‘television’ breakaway I thought I was doing.” If I’m smart, maybe we can make it to the end. This is where my mindset really changed. »
“It was risky”
The only Canadian in the race remembered the road book he had studied the day before. Three small passes stood up in the last 50 kilometers of the stage. In the headset, he heard that the German Tony Martin, one of the two or three best riders at the time, had broken away from the peloton, which now clocked in at five minutes.
His three partners were beginning to represent a ball and chain. “Even if you get along really well with them, you don’t want to start pulling guys and taking three or four times longer relays just for the sake of giving them a wrinkled and block the wind to them. »
In his eyes, the scenario was clear: “If I stayed with the other three, of course we wouldn’t surrender. I took a chance and left. »
At 47.5 km from the finish, thanks to a frank acceleration to which only Damuseau timidly responded, Veilleux took off solo.
Instinct or command of the sports director Sébastien Joly, as the French commentator on the bike calculated live?
“It was I who made that calculation, decided Veilleux. If I had asked him, of course he would have said no! It was risky. There was still another pass and the climb towards the finish. He didn’t underestimate my potential, but the chances of a plan like that working are very slim. Staying with the group gives you a chance to stay up front a bit longer. It’s the kind of move that you try more 10, 15 kilometers from the line. »
His first goal was to get to the top to pick up the points for the mountain leaderboard. After the descent, Joly went up to his protege to tell him: “Be careful, keep your pace, don’t get angry. »
In the valley, the native of Cap-Rouge was convinced that at least Tony Martin, the reigning double world champion in the time trial, would join him.
“Finally, I was able to hold on. I had enough in advance. Sébastien realized that I would surrender. The more it went, the louder he shouted in the car…”
“What happiness”
In the final climb, Veilleux nevertheless only held a priority of around three minutes over the peloton which had joined Martin.
“You have to be careful in these situations. Sometimes you give too much, too soon, or it’s too late. But it was easy for me to modulate my effort, a bit like in a time trial. I still had confidence that I could keep up the pace until the finish. I focused on that. Anyway, I didn’t control what the peloton did. »
Veilleux suffered particularly in the last hectometres towards Chambéry. “It wasn’t a very steep climb, but you were still in grip and there were some really tough bits. I was trying not to think away. »
It wasn’t until 400 meters away, on a bend leading him into the heart of the village, that he was able to start celebrating, crossing the line screaming, fists clenched and biceps tense, gaze skyward. The peloton, regulated by the Belgian Gianni Meersman, returned 1 min 56 later.
On the podium, Veilleux slipped into the famous yellow jersey sponsored by Crédit Lyonnais (LCL), a leader’s tunic that he defended for two days with his Europcar teammates, all happy to assume this responsibility in front of the big teams like Sky or BMC.
“It was just candy. I was smiling all day long on the bike. When you know this level… It’s not the Tour de France jersey, but with one detail: on the side of the heart, the logo is that of the Dauphiné and not that of the Tour. It’s almost a childhood dream. »
The one who was nicknamed “Caribou” remembers having received congratulations from Contador and Richie Porte, Froome’s main lieutenant who finished second in this Dauphiné, just behind his leader.
Veilleux’s only regret is not having managed to deliver a better performance in the individual time trial of the fourth stage (76e at 3 min 53), won by Tony Martin and at the end of which the Australian Rohan Dennis delighted the yellow.
“It is certain and certain that I had accumulated fatigue, but I also attached less importance to this discipline since my arrival in Europe. »
Each a lion…
A few days after his victory, Veilleux received a call from the general manager of Europcar, Jean-René Bernaudeau, confirming his place for the Tour de France.
“I think I would have done the same [sans son succès au Dauphiné]. I was confident that year. It was fine, I had done my homework. The training camps had gone well. I was doing my job at the races, I had a good attitude. But it is sure that I lacked a click to be sure and certain. »
After a victory at the Boucles de la Mayenne, a small four-day stage race, David Veilleux became the first native of Quebec to take the start of the Tour de France, in Corsica. On the second stage towards Ajaccio, he took part in a breakaway.
Two months after arriving on the Champs-Élysées, one of his two most memorable moments on a bike with his victory at the Dauphiné, Veilleux announced his retirement at the age of 25, to everyone’s surprise.
Regrets ? “I never had any regrets. I had also won some good races before. After these three years, I became a real pro for the Europeans and the French in my team. I was made solid. Before, I was a little more at school. With my progression and what I had proven that year, I could, from a sporting point of view, envisage a career of seven, eight or 10 years like Antoine [Duchesne] or Hugo [Houle]. But personally, it wasn’t the career choice I wanted. »
For six years, Veilleux has been a mechanical engineer at Eddyfi Technologies, a Quebec multinational specializing in “advanced non-destructive testing”. Basically, if you want to check the integrity of a bridge, you call them.
His yellow jerseys are stored in a box, but each of his three children, Jeanne, 7 years old, Édouard, 5 years old and Béatrice, 2 years old, has one of the famous stuffed lions given to the leader every day…
