KÉVIN RÉZA
B&B HOTELS P/B KTM
Last season was a strange, difficult one for everybody in the peloton. For B&B Hotels rider Kévin Réza perhaps it was the most intense of all. Like everybody in the peloton, Kévin had to deal with the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic. Unlike them, he was also elevated into a figurehead of the Black Lives Matter movement in cycling.
Kévin was initially ambivalent about his unofficial role as go-to spokesperson for the movement towards equality in cycling - it’s something he feels strongly about, having been the victim of racism in the past, yet he’d been reluctant to make a big deal of it. But he’s embraced what he sees as his responsibilities.
“We’re making small changes, but important ones,” he tells Procycling. “At the Tour we made a small gesture, but that was important because it’s the biggest race. We’re making a little noise, and it’s a start for something that I hope will evolve.”
2021 will be Kévin’s 11th season as a pro. He’s been a lead-out man, at Europcar for Bryan Coquard, then FDJ for Arnaud Démare. At B&B, who he joined in 2018, he’s been reunited with Coquard. But he’s more than just a pilot fish for the sprints. Team boss Jérôme Pineau has encouraged him to become the road captain, and mentor to the younger riders. Characteristically, it’s not a role Kévin sought, and he initially felt he wasn’t suited to it, but he has grown into it and discovered what Pineau already saw in him - that he was an excellent ‘older brother’ to the younger riders, setting an example on and off the bike.
“It’s a role that I like,” he says. “I’ve ridden in the past with big riders like Thomas Voeckler, and learned a lot. I’ve been trying to pass that on. I’m learning a lot about myself at the same time.”
After finishing the 2020 Tour, Kévin stopped for the year. “Normally after the Tour there are still lots of nice races to take part in. This time round it was only the Belgian classics and I’m not mad for them, so I finished my season,” he says.
“The Tour was really hard, with no let-up at all, so I was really tired, physically and certainly mentally. After the season finished, I went to Guadeloupe for a couple of weeks, which was good for my head and body. I don’t take my bike when I go. I prefer to go without my bike and do my holidays properly, to rest and to see family and friends. Normally I take three weeks off without activity, but this time I needed more - five weeks. That’s okay because the season starts a little later. I’m rested, recharged and preparing for the start of the season.”
Kévin’s calendar should take in the early season French races like the GP d’Ouverture, Étoile de Bessèges and Provence Tour, then on to Paris-Nice, and, all being well, the Tour. He’s also hoping to ride the Tour du Rwanda and make his debut in that race, if it goes ahead. “It will be nice to race there and feel the warm sun, instead of training where I live, which is still frozen at that time of year,” he says.
But the biggest aim is the Tour, where he’ll lead out Coquard in his hunt for a debut stage win after 23 top 10s, and also support Pierre Rolland, the GC leader and mountain stage hunter. “We have a complete team, whether it’s in the sprints with Bryan or the mountains with Rolland. We can win a stage any day of the race.”
For 2021, Kévin will be sharing his opinions and experiences in cycling and beyond. When we approached him to be a diarist, his first question was, “Can I write about anything? It doesn’t have to be just about cycling?” Expect a broad range of subject matter!
Kévin has become an integral part of the B&B Hotels team, as road captain
“I’ve ridden in the past with big riders like Thomas Voeckler and learned a lot. I’ve been trying to pass that on, learning about myself at the same time”