‘Not a final goodbye’ - Victor Lafay leaves Unibet Rose Rockets without ever racing for the team

Victor Lafay hopes his departure from Unibet Rose Rockets is “not a final goodbye”, after confirming that he will leave without having raced for the team. The 30-year-old said his health has not improved and that he is not looking for a new contract for next season.

Lafay joined the Rockets on a one-year deal for 2026, but he has not raced since the Tour of Guangxi in October 2025, where he finished second overall. His contract expires at the end of the year.

He began suffering from extreme fatigue after the team’s first training camp of the season, and months of tests have failed to find a clear cause.

“My health hasn’t improved the way I’d hoped. I’m still fighting the same virus that has kept me away from racing this season. That’s also why we decided not to renew my contract with the Rockets and, honestly, I’m not even looking for a new one. Right now, health has to be the absolute priority,” Lafay wrote in the message revealed by the team.

The Frenchman has stopped short of retiring, as he told L’Équipe earlier this month, and the team has said it will keep supporting him while he is out of contract.

“I still feel that spark inside me, that motivation and love for cycling, which makes it hard to say this is the end. I haven’t lost hope of pinning on a race number again, even if I don’t know when, or if, that moment will come,” he wrote.

Lafay won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 2021 and stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France into San Sebastián, both with Cofidis. Two injury-hit seasons at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale followed, and he was considering retirement before Bas Tietema persuaded him to join the Rockets.

“For now, my goal is to get better, take things one day at a time and, hopefully, get back to a normal life,” he wrote.