Paul Lapeira, after his victory at the French Championships: “I couldn’t do better”

Paul Lapeira (French road cycling champion): “I’ve dreamed of this jersey since I started racing among young people as an amateur. I can’t realize that I’m going to keep it for a year in all the races… We had a plan last night (Saturday), and we respected it to the letter. Every guy on the team did their job, and everyone has a piece of this jersey on their shoulder today.

This winter, when I thought about these Championships at home, I said to myself: “You will have to make the most of it”. I never thought I would be able to achieve a result. But a lot has happened in the last six months (three victories). Ambitions have evolved and this morning, I started with the desire to win. I didn’t feel any pressure. I was at my parents’ house Thursday and Friday, I wasn’t stressed at all. I worked a lot on this with my mental trainer. I was focused throughout the race. I had my plan in mind.

We had three leaders with Dorian (Godon) and Benoît (Cosnefroy). There was no number one card, we wanted to play for the winner for whoever was in front. I wanted to anticipate because I knew that in the sprint, against Christophe (Laporte) or Julian (Alaphilippe), I was not sure of winning. In the final, I attacked again with one lap to go because I felt that the group was coming back behind. I would have liked to isolate myself but there were three of us and we got along well until a kilometer from the line, it was perfect. Two weeks ago, I said: if I am champion of France, I will be able to die in peace. I experienced the best moment of my career. I couldn’t do better. »