‘I’m fast again’ - Coquard ends 13-year wait for Grand Tour win on dramatic day at the Vuelta

The Frenchman had waited almost his entire professional career for this moment.

Thirteen years after making his Grand Tour debut, the 34-year-old Cofidis sprinter finally claimed the stage victory he had spent so long chasing, edging Mads Pedersen in a desperately close finish to stage 8 of the Vuelta a España in Xeraco.

“I think 13 years,” Coquard said when reminded how long the wait had been. “It’s a lot of work. I finished second a lot of times in Grand Tours. I’m 34 years old now, so I’m very proud and very happy.”

Coming from behind in the final metres, the Frenchman threw his bike at the line and snatched a victory that has been more than a decade in the making.

His positioning beforehand was no accident. Cofidis did not have the numbers of some of the more established sprint trains, so Coquard relied on his teammates to keep him near the front before making his own decisions in the finale.

“My team did a perfect job,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of lead-out men, but all the climbers tried to bring me into a good position with five kilometres to go. After that I just followed Alexis [Renard].”

From there, experience took over. With around 500 metres remaining, Coquard picked out Jordi Meeus as the wheel to follow. He knew the Belgian possessed the speed for this type of finish, while the wind made going too early particularly risky.

“I saw Jordi Meeus and I knew he was very fast in this type of finish,” Coquard explained. “I waited. I knew there was a little cross headwind, and in the city it was more of a headwind. I made my effort at the right moment, with the slipstream.”

It was the sort of judgement that comes from years of sprinting at the highest level. Coquard has won plenty during his career, but Grand Tour success had repeatedly escaped him.

That history had made the opening week of this Vuelta increasingly difficult.

Coquard admitted he had arrived at Saturday’s stage under pressure after failing to position himself properly in the first two sprint opportunities. A crash earlier in the race had done little to help his confidence either.

“When you don’t do a good sprint, it’s one opportunity less,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of opportunities for sprinters in this Vuelta. I wasn’t in a good position in the first two sprints, but I knew I had good legs.”

There had been clues that his form was improving. Coquard spent time in the breakaway on stage 7 and felt his climbing legs beginning to come around.

More importantly, the speed was still there. “I’m fast,” he said with a smile. “I’m fast again.”

Coquard’s victory came on the most dramatic day of the Vuelta so far.

Race leader Tadej Pogačar crashed with 32 kilometres remaining and was left sitting on the road while being assessed by medical staff. Although the Slovenian initially returned to his feet, he was unable to continue and was eventually taken away in an ambulance, bringing his race to a sudden end while wearing the red jersey.

For Coquard, the day ended very differently. After so many near misses at Grand Tour level, he finally had the win he had been chasing for years.

“I waited a long time for this victory and I worked a lot for it,” he said. “It’s an amazing, amazing day.”