Victor Lafay is a 26-year-old French cyclist who entered the Tour de France this year for the first time. Unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw after experiencing extreme breathing difficulties and pain all over his body. In the following interview, he reports that a lot of his fellow cyclists in the Tour de France were exhibiting the same symptoms. He has had COVID-19 in the past, but tested negative for the disease, so it was not the “Long Covid” that was causing his symptoms. There is no mention of “vaccination” in the interview.
Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
For an English-language report on Mr. Lafay’s withdrawal from the Tour de France, see this article at CyclingUpToDate.
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | It wasn’t possible to continue? — Yes and no, I hung on and kept going like I do every day, | |
| 00:06 | and the mountain stages were always easier for me to get to the end, | |
| 00:13 | because once it gets hard you find your rhythm and you just make an effort and go until the end. | |
| 00:19 | But today, I just couldn’t follow [the peloton] and found myself all alone, | |
| 00:24 | and going up on a mountain alone is impossible. —Are you sick or injured? | |
| 00:29 | Do you have any explanations for this unusual situation? You’ve done very well in previous races, | |
| 00:34 | notably at Dauphiné. How do you explain that? — Yes, yes, I’m sick. | |
| 00:39 | I’m not the only one in the peloton. I spoke with Castro [another rider] at the beginning, | |
| 00:43 | and he told me he was feeling the same. He came and asked me, ‘Are you sick? | |
| 00:47 | Are you not able to breathe, either?’, and I said, ‘No,’ and he told me, ‘Me too,’ | |
| 00:51 | and I’ve been feeling like this since stage 6. I’m having a very hard time breathing. | |
| 00:57 | I feel like I don’t have enough oxygen, pain everywhere, legs, etc., no strength, | |
| 01:01 | and it’s only getting worse after each stage. I thought there would be a moment | |
| 01:07 | where it would get better, but it hasn’t happened. Then today I just tried to hang on | |
| 01:14 | as much as possible, but I think there’s nothing that can be done. | |
| 01:20 | You’ve had Covid before. Maybe it could be that [meaning Long Covid]? How do you explain that? | |
| 01:24 | —All the Covid tests came negative. They were antigen tests, though, not PCR. | |
| 01:28 | There are tons of people in the peloton who are all feeling the same, they’re all negative as well. | |
| 01:33 | Maybe it could be something else! I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, I don’t know anything, | |
| 01:37 | but many of us have the same symptoms and are struggling on our bikes. | |
| 01:42 | It’s not cool, and especially for the Tour de France, but well, | |
| 01:48 | I was hoping for better for my first tour, and I hope I can come back in better shape. | |
| 01:53 | We hope so too! Thank you, Victor, have a good recovery. |
100% they all where injected with this toxic !!, otherwise they probably can’t start this tour.. what Shame ..
France’s covid mandates pretty much make it impossible the rider did not have the covid shots: https://www.news24.com/ride24/news/vaccine-mandate-for-pro-riders-in-france-20220118
UCI (the cycling sports organization) says for big tours it is either a test or a shot (https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/the-uci-updates-its-covid-19-health-protocol-for-road-cycling-events-in-2022/6WypWl73KKKKR6k3wkq0sR), but pretty sure the rules of the country they are in would supersede that. You would think an organization like UCI would stand up for its members against the French government but no. Besides a lot of the mandates around the world have been out sourcing enforcement to private entities and companies, they are IN on it.
As a cyclist I am glad I no longer follow the tour or other pro level sports, sad to see what these organizations are allowing to be done to their riders and staff.