Alexandre Fayolle was a man in shock when we went to talk to him after winning his first World Cup in Lourdes. We’re not sure whether that was due to being soaked to the bone, rushing through anti-doping or wearing the leader’s jersey for the first time but there was no doubt the full significance of his win was yet to sink in.
A lot of people will point to the weather to explain Fayolle’s maiden win but to do so is unfair. His time was only 0.1 seconds slower than Vergier’s stormer yesterday on a track that was significantly more beaten up. He was railing.
This was the first win for a Frenchman on home soil in twenty years and the first win for the UR team on a Polygon bike. He was greeted with a hero’s reception in the Polygon UR pits with Bohemian Rhapsody blaring out through the team truck speaker’s. There’s going to be a party tonight.
