He did it. Victor Lafay will forgive this obligatory play on words for the first victory of his professional career. The French rider of the Cofidis team did not choose the most moment of the moments to open his prize list at 25 years old. The Haut-Savoyard rider won solo during the 8th stage of the Giro between Foggia and Guarda Sanframondi. He first had the strength and the intelligence to slip into the good breakaway of the day when his compatriot from AG2R Citroën, Alexis Gougeard, accompanied him in particular. You had to be patient, not to panic and not to trigger your attack too soon. Lafay knew he only had one round to fire and launched his attack three kilometers from the finish. Unfortunately, French viewers were not numerous to witness this feat.
Victor Lafay, a solid climber, had already finished fourth this season of the Tour de la Communauté de Valence.
His victory is the fifth in 2021 for his northern team.
Cofidis had been waiting for success on the Giro since… 2010.
🇫🇷 @ victorlafay of 🇫🇷 @ TeamCOFIDIS wins stage 8 of 🇮🇹 @ giroditalia # Giro104 via @sporza_koers pic.twitter.com/MQWUA2Ajt2
- World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) May 15, 2021
“It's incredible, he breathes after his success.
It was a very difficult day where we had to take the breakaway.
When it was gone, the platoon let us go.
In the end there was 10 minutes of intense effort to do.
I was focused on my effort ”.
French cycling, already well off during the last Tour of Italy with four stage successes by Arnaud Démare, holds its place: the Hungarian Attila Valter of the Groupama-FDJ team kept his pink leader's jersey thanks to the collective work of his teammates who took control of the peloton to reduce the gap with the breakaways.
This Sunday, the general classification could nevertheless be modified.
The peloton will tackle the queen stage of the Apennines and Abruzzo, with a succession of very technical climbs and descents before the final ascent which will begin with the Ovindoli pass.