Paul Lapeira stayed calm amongst the chaos of the crash-marred finale to stage 2 of the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country, sprinting from a reduced bunch to his first World Tour win.
"The level in the WorldTour is so high, so I'm very happy to win," reflected the Frenchman of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team in his post-race interview, after powering to a relatively comfortable victory ahead of the likes of Samuele Battistella and Louis Vervaeke.
Sensing he had an opportunity, Lapeira actually tried to attack before the sprint. "I tried to attack with 1.5km to go as it was a bit calm, but they were onto me straight away," he recalls. "So I sat up and started to think about the sprint."
"Bruno Armirail took me from 700 metres to 200 metres, then when it started to kick uphill I launched my sprint and it worked out," Lapeira concludes. Although this was his first World Tour win, the Frenchman has already shown some impressive legs this season with victories at a number of French one day races.
🇪🇸 @ehitzulia Mis sur orbite par un très grand @BrunoArmirail, @PaulLapeira a fait parler sa vitesse ensuite. Perfectly led out by a strong @BrunoArmirail, @PaulLapeira storms to the line. #DECATHLONAG2RLAMONDIALETEAM
🇫🇷🙌 Cocorico : Paul Lapeira et Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale remportent la 2e étape d'#Itzulia au bout d'un sprint sous la pluie comme on les aime ! Suivez le Tour du Pays Basque sur Eurosport, avec #LesRP
