For your 3rdstep, you start with team sprint. After the qualifying rounds, the French Team is 3rdwith 43”570, how did you feel?
Quentin Lafargue: the team was new for all of us. Seb came back as starter and Rayan was back in 2ndposition. The round went well, I felt rather good at the beginning. Despite a good time from Seb in 1 and then Rayan, my 3rd last round alone was physically tough. Unfortunately my feelings and time matched. The time and team ranking was not too bad, but personally, I didn’t feel so happy.
½ hour later you are back with your teammates. Can you tell us about the race and how you manage to recover so quickly?
QL: The final lapse arrived very quickly. The coach said there was 26 minutes between the 2 races… It never happens to have such a short gap. We were only 3 in the team and we couldn’t switch the last one. My heart beat was still high when I reached the starting line. Seb starts faster, Rayan also speeds up, but I blew up at the end of the 1stround. The lack of recovery was fatal. We lost the match and finished 5th. We were furious as we could have been on the podium.
The next day you carry on with speed. You get the best time during the qualifying rounds (1’00’657), and receive the silver medal in final. Are you happy?
QL: my feelings are mixed. On the spot, I was very disappointed as I was so close to a world cup victory (only 0,015 sec). It’s frustrating! But when you look back on the competition you can learn from it. My objective was to reach a very good time at 500m/half way through for a better start. If I want to be under 1 minute I need to start at this speed. The positive thing is that I succeeded in doing it also in the final part. Yes, I missed a little at the end this time, but with more specific training I know I’m able to cycle under 1 minute and be World Champion. So I accept this silver medal and I congratulated Joe Eilers who won in front of his crowd.
The rest of the season follows with the World Cup in London from 14 to 16thDecember, do you plan to go?
QL: Yes, I’ll be there. It’s in 2 weeks. I’ll take part in the team sprint and individual speed. The team is going to change as Sebastien will not attend. In the meantime, let’s get ready. Departure for London is planned on 11thDecember.