Victor Lafay: “We came here for the win”

August 13 ^th 2022 - 18:57 [GMT + 2]

My legs are sore! It has been difficult to win here. I knew I had to attack on the stepper sections of the climb. Axel [Zingle] told me that I had to play my chances because he wasn’t feeling at his best. I’ve accelerated with more than 2 kilometres to go, and the way to the finish has felt super long. I saw I had a good gap on my chasers and, as the gradient was high, we weren’t pedaling that fast – maybe 18, 19 kph. I decided I couldn’t stop and wait, so I kept going. The climb was hard and I guess my rivals had similar thoughts behind me. In the end, it boded well for me.

We had several cards to play today. The best one was Axel, as he already had a lead and we believed he could cope with today’s final climb, but the pace was very high in the final kilometres and it took its toll on him. Luckily, he reached the finish line close to the best, so he is not too far away on the standings. I hope that, if I lose the Midnight Sun jersey, it’s him who takes it. We came here to win this Arctic Race of Norway and we are in a position to do so. We will do our best.

I had to quit the Tour de France due to sickness, and I struggled to resume training for three weeks because I couldn’t breathe properly. I got back to business today, and it feels great.