Victor Lafay - the next super puncheur

[tobydawq]

The Tour being the Tour, I don't think the events of the last couple of days can be ignored, even if the forum is not that trigger happy in creating new threads.

Because France has gotten a new star. It may be premature to say superstar, and he is 27 years old, so he may never get there, but man has he set the Earth on fire these first two days. It may be so that positioning was very important on the Pike Bidea, but still, being the only rider with Pogi and Jonas is legendary stuff. And then to cap it off with such a gutsy win in San Sebastián. Wow. I will never forget that weekend from him. What a swashbuckling way to finally break the Cofidis curse.

He rose to prominence with his Giro stage win from 2021, but that was from a very weak break and didn't really say that much about his top level. One thing that did, however, was his ride on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico last year. I just rewatched a highlights package from that day, and not only does he close Remco when he attacks a couple kilometres out, he is also the one to make the final attack inside the final kilometre where Pogi is the only one who can follow him - in the end, Vingegaard also managed to outsprint him, but he still ended up sharing a top 4 with Pogacar, Vingegaard and Remco, which is extraordinary in itself.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0vCoGhCu1A&ab_channel=GCNRacing


Then he had a lot of health problems, and last year's Tour was horrible. He was probably the weakest rider in the race (or at least battling with Hirschi and Turgis for that honour) and abandoned half-way through. This year has been decent with some good performances (4th in Ardèche behind Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Skjelmose and in front of Grégoire, Gall, Rota, G Martin, Costa (how good does that win look by Julian now, by the way, how could he pull that off and then suck for three months?), 6th in Flèche Wallonne and a victory in Classic Grand Besancon where he beat Lenny Martinez on an uphill finish) but there has also been a lot of anonymous performances, so I don't think anybody could have foreseen what would transpire these first two days.

Where does he go from here? Stage hunter? Classics rider? WCRR contender? I don't think GC rider is realistic, he seems too big for that. And way too fluctuating in his performance.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Lafay seems strong as Ben Healy. They also look like twin brothers.

Good thing for me is that now I easier manage to separate Lafay and Rochas. Now Lafay is the stronger of them.

Just like with Vlasov and Sivakov. For some time, both were equally strong. Then Vlasov became the stronger of the two, and I managed to separate them easier.

Just like Laporte, Lafay could even improve if he left Cofidis. But he can win at Cofidis too.

Good thing for French cycling. You underestimate Lafay easily, because of his look, his nationality and his team. When his new level is what he showed yesterday, then he is ready for new nice victories, in world class races.

Now with a TdF stage won, he already has become a „living legend“. Having won a TdF stage will change his life dramatically, to the better.

 

[SafeBet]

Looks like someone who should try to hit his super peak for the Ardennes. Very very high level on his day, but too inconsistent to be a GC rider, I think.
Could be a dark horse for many WC courses, but with France having a number of different options and his shape being hit or miss, he's the type of rider who could struggle being selected in some years.

 

[Red Rick]

First transfer rumors are in. Ineos lead the way

 

[Red Rick]

The Tour being the Tour, I don't think the events of the last couple of days can be ignored, even if the forum is not that trigger happy in creating new threads.

Because France has gotten a new star. It may be premature to say superstar, and he is 27 years old, so he may never get there, but man has he set the Earth on fire these first two days. It may be so that positioning was very important on the Pike Bidea, but still, being the only rider with Pogi and Jonas is legendary stuff. And then to cap it off with such a gutsy win in San Sebastián. Wow. I will never forget that weekend from him. What a swashbuckling way to finally break the Cofidis curse.

He rose to prominence with his Giro stage win from 2021, but that was from a very weak break and didn't really say that much about his top level. One thing that did, however, was his ride on stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico last year. I just rewatched a highlights package from that day, and not only does he close Remco when he attacks a couple kilometres out, he is also the one to make the final attack inside the final kilometre where Pogi is the only one who can follow him - in the end, Vingegaard also managed to outsprint him, but he still ended up sharing a top 4 with Pogacar, Vingegaard and Remco, which is extraordinary in itself.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0vCoGhCu1A&ab_channel=GCNRacing


Then he had a lot of health problems, and last year's Tour was horrible. He was probably the weakest rider in the race (or at least battling with Hirschi and Turgis for that honour) and abandoned half-way through. This year has been decent with some good performances (4th in Ardèche behind Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Skjelmose and in front of Grégoire, Gall, Rota, G Martin, Costa (how good does that win look by Julian now, by the way, how could he pull that off and then suck for three months?), 6th in Flèche Wallonne and a victory in Classic Grand Besancon where he beat Lenny Martinez on an uphill finish) but there has also been a lot of anonymous performances, so I don't think anybody could have foreseen what would transpire these first two days.

Where does he go from here? Stage hunter? Classics rider? WCRR contender? I don't think GC rider is realistic, he seems too big for that. And way too fluctuating in his performance.

PCS has him roughly at the same height/weight as Roglic. His arms are skeletal.

I wonder how good he is in harder races with more fatigue, so far I think his best results have beem pretty easy stages into a fresh 6-12 minute climb, though he has some good results on bigger climbs as well.

He has never climbed with the absolute best on 6 minute climbs before either though, so Im curious what he does the rest of the Tour

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He's a rider from the Chambéry system who's won a Giro stage and a Tour stage, so he's obviously the new and improved version of Nans Peters!

 

[tobydawq]

PCS has him roughly at the same height/weight as Roglic. His arms are skeletal.

I wonder how good he is in harder races with more fatigue, so far I think his best results have beem pretty easy stages into a fresh 6-12 minute climb, though he has some good results on bigger climbs as well.

He has never climbed with the absolute best on 6 minute climbs before either though, so Im curious what he does the rest of the Tour

The Tirreno stage I mentioned fits right in there.

 

[frisenfruitig]

Even more than his victory yesterday I thought he was very impressive the first stage. Being able to stick with Pogacar and Vingegaard and even attacking a couple of times is something only few riders are capable of. Not sure what else we can expect from this guy but I'm curious.

 

[ZamlinusYoutubeious]

I am happy for him and the team. Mouncoutie's team 😀 and i want the french to do well.

 

[Izzyeviel]

The next Tommy Vocekler?

 

[Red Rick]

The Tirreno stage I mentioned fits right in there.

That was good, but still there's a big difference between being s.t. in an uphill sprint group of about 10 in Tirreno and being the only one to climb with the 2 best GC riders in the world on a steep murito

 

[Netserk]

Pikachu 2.0 is the new Vuillermoz!

 

[tobydawq]

That was good, but still there's a big difference between being s.t. in an uphill sprint group of about 10 in Tirreno and being the only one to climb with the 2 best GC riders in the world on a steep murito

As I said, it wasn't a sprint, he made the attack and Pogi was the only one who could follow.

 

[Tonton]

I wanted him in my CQ team but the math didn't add up. Victor is very explosive. Better than my townsman Vuillermo(z). Bravo to him. He'll win more and keep winning.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I wanted him in my CQ team but the math didn't add up. Victor is very explosive. Better than my townsman Vuillermo(z). Bravo to him. He'll win more and keep winning.

I sure hope so for his sake, but we all pretty much thought the same about Cosnefroy in 2020. No wins so far this year. Only one win in 2022 and three wins in 2021.

 

[saunaking]

The Tour being the Tour, I don't think the events of the last couple of days can be ignored, even if the forum is not that trigger happy in creating new threads.

........

Where does he go from here? Stage hunter? Classics rider? WCRR contender? I don't think GC rider is realistic, he seems too big for that. And way too fluctuating in his performance.

I love the enthusiasm of this post and will be supporting Lafay accordingly!!

 

[Me gal in da rain]

I love the enthusiasm of this post and will be supporting Lafay accordingly!!

i love the pure positivity of this particular post...

i have supported the comment with a positive reaction and will also support Lafay - if not forever, then at least until august

 

[SafeBet]

I sure hope so for his sake, but we all pretty much thought the same about Cosnefroy in 2020. No wins so far this year. Only one win in 2022 and three wins in 2021.

The odd thing with Cosnefroy is the complete lack of results in WT stage races. And I'm not talking about GCs obviously. He has like 2 career top10s in WT stages... This is his 5th Tour and he has yet to finish top10 in a stage.
That's an area where we know Lafay is pretty effective at least.

That said, I don't think Lafay will become a prolific winner, you need to be the absolute best puncher in the world to win a lot. But if he goes to the right team I could see him become more of a regular presence in the Ardennes and explosive hilly races in general.

 

[armchairclimber]

Darn, I should have started this thread myself. As I have said elsewhere, it was stage 4 of the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire when he came onto the radar in my household .... largely through my wife taking a photo of him at the Piece Hall signing in, where he looked about 15. He went out in the break that day, on a stage that was dubbed "the Yorkshire Terrier" because of the relentlessly difficult terrain. He only finished about 54th (GVA pipped Lawless and Dunbar), but he impressed me and I've followed him since. I've had him in my CQ teams in previous years ... but not this one (doh!!).
He has always had the talent for eyecatching stage wins, but he does seem to have come of age this year, adding some strength and consistency. He still looks like a teenager and seems to be even nicer than Powless. I'm so glad that he has had a life changing moment. I can see his triumphant finish line photos being posters an many a french bedroom wall (if young folk still do that kind of thing). Maybe he'll have to settle for being mobile phone wllpaper.

 

[Cookster15]

Thanks for raising this. I was conscious of Lafay mentioned recently but didn’t know much about him - now I do.

But this comment also caught my eye:

even if the forum is not that trigger happy in creating new threads.

Why is this? In years gone past people used to get upset for threads being created in the forum unnecessarily. Now we have gone to the other extreme? Free expression of thought should always be encouraged within the rules.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Pikachu 2.0 is the new Vuillermoz!

I expected a lot more from Pikachu after that stage win on the Mur de Bretagne...

 

[Pantani_lives]

He's done it! Il l'a fait!

 

[staubsauger]

I expected a lot more from Pikachu after that stage win on the Mur de Bretagne...

Especially since he already had been a good domestique to Pozzovivo at the 2014 Giro d'Italia before.

But he declined like the whole AG2R team from 2018 onwards.

 

[tobydawq]

He will finally open his season on Saturday at the Tour de l'Ain.

 

[search]

In an interview at the Tour de l'Ain, Lafay yesterday said that the knee injury he had in May should hopefully solve the problems he suffered from throughout last year. Currently he has no pain anymore.

His program for the remainder of the season will likely be Tour du Limousin, Tour Poitou - Charentes or Tour of Britain (he'd prefer the latter), GPCQM, GP Wallonie, some one day races in Italy and Guangxi at the end.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcfyA6g31u4