"I think I’ve never been in such good shape": Training in Shanghai reportedly puts Victor Lafay at the top of his game
Cycling
Victor Lafay has been one of Unibet Rose Rockets' star signings this past winter. The former Tour de France stage winner is supposed to anchor the French-Dutch team's hilly classics team while he hunts individual successes in longer stage races.
And yet, for some reason, you could run into Lafay in the Chinese metropolis Shanghai at the end of Novemeber, at the time when season preparations are normally in full swing.
Of course, the 30-year-old Frenchman was not in Asia at this time of the year for holidays. Since Lafay's girlfriend lives in the city, his team granted Lafay a special permission to train in China for a brief period. Something like that was unimaginable to Lafay in his former teams:
"In some teams you feel like a fifteen-year-old, constantly monitored on what you eat or whether you leave the hotel to go for a walk. I still have the experience to make the right choices," he told DirectVelo.
Stronger than ever
Lafay says the freedom to manage his training has paid off already. He feels physically stronger than ever in January - a sign, he believes, that his new way of preparing is working. Tietema personally convinced Lafay to join the Rockets, and the Frenchman thinks his form proves the choice was right.
"Physically, I think I’ve never been in such good shape in January. It clearly shows that training more in my own way works for me. During Christmas, I had all my family dinners. My girlfriend, who had come from China, was there too. I barely rode. I should have done 18 hours of riding, but I did only five," Lafay laughed.
After his opening race, the Vuelta a la Region de Murcia, Lafay is scheduled to race the Classic Var and the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var as part of building toward his season goals. His spring should then culminate on the mythical Mur de Huy during La Fleche Wallonne.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- What a gimmick
Rafionain-Glas06-11-2026 - Thats only cause he rides for UAE. In any other team he would be captain in many races atleast. UAE is just to crazymiguel06-11-2026
- He seems to be the rare athlete whose passion and curiosity about life beyond his sport equals his extraordinary achievements in it. It would be great for him to risk less of that life. He seems very grateful and joyful for what he has already attained.
MarkFour06-11-2026 - As much as I admire and even revere Wout, the less I know about his backside the better.MidnightRider06-11-2026
- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment