“Victor did it” The good word was already on everyone’s lips when the Tour de France rider, digging into his last reserves and his face grimacing with pain, resisted the return of the peloton to impose itself on the streets of San Sebastián. At the end of the effort, the second stage of the Tour de France and his first victory in the biggest cycling race in the world.
A resounding triumph for the Cofidis team, which had been chasing after this July success for… 15 years! An eternity for manager Cédric Vasseur and his troops, finally rewarded for the efforts carried out in the shadow of the large, wealthy teams of the peloton. “Somewhere, it’s a deliverance, that’s for sure, because every year, we ran after this victory which will do good to the team. I hope she will call others, ”said the now new yellow jersey and fourth in the general classification.
“I don’t really realize. It’s true that when I made my effort, I wasn’t thinking about winning. I saw the line and I looked on the counter, I saw 500 meters then 400 meters. When I saw that the watts were dropping a little and I thought I was going to pick up a tooth. I believed in it until the end”, had confided, a few moments earlier, still out of breath, the French hero of the day, his face reddened by the effort a few moments after crossing the finish line in front of Wout van Aert. (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
Lafay imposed himself under the nose and beard of the favorites, surprised by the unexpected departure of this French puncher with the face of a teenager, aged 27 and with Cofidis since 2018. The leaders of the peloton were very wrong not to keep an eye in the final on the Lyonnais who had already left his box the day before. In Pike’s terrible climb before arriving in Bilbao, he had been the only one able to follow the infernal train led by the Pogacar-Vingegaard duo. Without complex and equipped with a hell of a nerve, Lafay had even tried to give way to the two giants of the peloton! Without success, but the refreshing panache of this good climber had perked up the whole Cofidis team. “He hadn’t planned to attack on the Pike coast but he had warned us that he had good feelings during the briefing”, breathed a member of the team on Sunday morning.
This Sunday, Lafay admitted that this aborted coup the day before had not been very well thought out. The one operated in La Concha Bay was, on the contrary, meticulously prepared in his head. “I said to myself, ‘I’m not attacking in the last little bump’, because the big guys were going to do it and I didn’t necessarily have the legs. I waited for it to land and it landed at a kilometer. I really wanted to attack and I didn’t want to wait for the sprint. It was premeditated”, confided the rider, who had already made people talk about him by winning the 8th stage of the Tour of Italy in 2021.
Thanks to this prestigious victory, Lafay’s popularity will explode before arriving in France on Monday. “I will keep a cool head and I will continue to work. I progress every year and I push my limits and that’s how I find pleasure”, smiled the discreet winner of the day, already ready to return to the service of his leaders … even if he remains ambitious. “I’m going to refocus and keep in sight that there are stages where I can try to win and others where I should try to help Guillaume (Marti, editor’s note) or Bryan (Coquard, editor’s note)”, he slips. The return to a role of lieutenant, in the shadows. His future exploits will only be more dazzling.