After the World Cup in Berlin, you took part this weekend in the 4th World Cup Round in London. You often start your competition with team sprint and this time it’s with a young team. What do you keep from this first day?
Quentin Lafargue: The selected team was young. It’s important to put forward young ones when they reach a decent level. There is a lot of experience to gain and I was happy to be there for them. Iwas in the team for the 1stround after Rayan Helal who did the qualifying rounds. Unfortunately with our 8thtime, we match against the Dutch Team who got the best qualifying time and who hasn’t lost any speed competition this season. We got better by 5 10thbut it was not enough to win the match. The competition is over for us but I had good feelings and I feel positive about it. In the end we finish 5th.
On the Sunday you took part in the individual speed competition. It was a year since you had competed at world level. In such a case, how do you quickly find your marks?
QL: It’s difficult to find your bearings. It’s an occasional discipline for me but it’s important to still run it. My last competition dated back to the French Championship where I finished 3rd. My objective was to succeed in having a faster time in the first 100 meters. 9”79 would have been great!
As first cyclist in the competition, you get the pressure. What do you think of your time?
QL: Yes indeed. I was first. It’s the first time ever. It’s due to the fact that I didn’t participate much in speed, so I don’t have many UCI points. I didn’t feel the pressure and anyway being the first cyclist I was sure to get the best time (Quentin laughing). My time is 9”88 which is not too bad was not good enough to hope to compete with the best.
You are out in the 16thfinal against the Columbian Quintero. Can you tell us about it?
QL: I lost a spectacular race. No mistake except a little rush at the beginning of the last lapse that I pay on the finish line.
As a conclusion can you share your plans for the year-end celebrations?
QL: To wrap up the year, I have another week and half work before I rest during year-end festivities. There won’t be anything extravagant as we leave for Noumea on 2ndJanuary for our 5thWorld Cup Round training. This round will take place in New Zealand.