Victor Lafay took a career-changing victory at this year’s Tour de France, ending a 15-year drought for Spanish team Cofidis and launching his career to new heights ahead of a reported move to AG2R-Citröen for 2024.
The Frenchman was part of the star-studded lineups completing criteriums in Singapore and Saitama, Japan which celebrated this year’s Tour de France with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) taking the respective wins in the exhibition events.
Lafay spoke to French newspaper L’Équipe in Asia about his magnificent day on stage 2 of this year’s Tour in San Sébastián, where he lived with the world’s best up the Jaizkibel before stealing a march in the final kilometre and powering away to victory.
The Frenchman has risen to newfound fame since that win, but still dreams of the prize every French rider desires most, the maillot jaune.
“The Tour is huge and, when I arrived in Japan, lots of people asked me for selfies even though we were on the other side of the world. I was told the Tour can change your career, and I realise that more every day,” said Lafay.
“In the first stage, I wasn’t very happy because I had great legs and thought it was possible. In the end, I miscalculated and relied too much on Jonas (Vingegaard) when it was not in his interest to go for yellow.
“The next day, I was frustrated, which allowed me to go for this victory. But the Yellow Jersey is something that I would really like to discover at least once in my life. This must be an extraordinary experience.”
Lafay had been rumoured for a big-money move to home team AG2R Citröen, with talks preceding his triumph at the Tour. That switch seems all but certain despite no official confirmation as of yet, with Lafay telling L’Équipe he felt he needed to “get out of my comfort zone” by leaving Cofidis after seven seasons.
“They [AG2R Citröen] understood that I don’t miss out on many of my goals. Those that I set for myself with Cofidis this season, I achieved, except perhaps the French National Championships [finished 16th],” said Lafay. “When I put something on my mind, I respond. My goal in the coming years is to continue to progress. Each season so far, I have reached new levels.”
Lafay will be remembered in Cofidis’ illustrious history for ending that prolonged drought that the team carried into each of the last 15 Tours, also taking a Giro d’Italia stage win during his time there. But at 27, he favoured a change of scenery, and one closer to home.
“Above all, I had been at Cofidis for five and a half years and I felt that I needed, not to relaunch myself, but to get out of my comfort zone,” Lafay said.
“I was super happy with this year on the team. They all gave me a lot, from my coach to the management, they trusted me and I appreciated it. I was able to show them that they were right to do so.”
AG2R Citröen’s headquarters lie in the Savoie department in La Motte-Servolex. Lafay lives near Chambéry which is barely 10 minutes away, and started his career for the Chambéry Cyclisme Formation team. This is now the French team’s U23 development squad.
He’ll be reunited with former teammates Benoît Cosnefroy and Nans Peters and is prepared to ride within himself on occasion in pursuit of greater consistency as he continues to mature as a rider.
“What changed [since the Tour] is that more results are expected from me. This was already the case before but, when you want to be consistent, you sometimes have to restrict yourself and not necessarily try crazy things like I did at the Tour,” said Lafay.
“I’m quite fiery, I act a lot on instinct. I’m not going to think for hours about a strategy. If I smell something, I go for it. But at times, it’s good to contain yourself too.
“There are days when I have legs of fire, others where physically it doesn’t feel good at all. Some say it’s in the head but not at all, I still have the same desire to win. Sometimes I go so far in pain that the next day I’m completely flat, I’m human.”
Lafay is set to unite with his teammates for the coming years in Savoie after continuing his travels in Asia. If confirmed, he’ll be one of AG2R Citröen’s headline riders in 2024 alongside Felix Gall, Ben O’Connor and another former development teammate who also had a great season, Aurélien Paret-Peintre.
