David Veilleux to race in the Tour de France

David Veilleux, the current leader in the Critérium du Dauphiné, will race in the Tour de France. The news of the Cap-Rouge, Que. rider’s inclusion in the Grand Tour is being reported by TVA Sports.

After [Veilleux’s Stage 1] victory, the Europcar’s directeur sportif, Andy Flickinger, confirmed that David Veilleux would be the first Quebec-born cyclist in history to take part in the Tour de France, which starts June 29.

When asked for a comment, Louis Garneau, the head of Louis Garneau Sports Inc. and a sponsor of Team Europcar, said the following to the Quebec news organization:

We have our Quebecer in the Tour de France! Pending an injury, he’ll participate. David is an ambassador for cycling in Canada, in Quebec and the Quebec City region. His life has changed. I’m very proud of him.

While this is very good news for Canada and Veilleux, the news might not have reach the cyclist yet. The TVA Sports story ran late Sunday night, well after the first stage of the Dauphiné concluded. In an interview that the website CanadianCyclist.com conducted on Monday with Veilleux, after the Stage 2 of the Dauphiné, the interviewer asked about the Tour:

Last question: what does this performance do for the possibility of you doing your first Tour de France?

To which Veilleux responded:

I don’t know. We are not talking about this right now. I think we’ll see after. But I have good form right now. It’s something to be decided later.