What’s about fourth total within the Tour de France? For the final 10 years, solely two of the riders who’ve completed one step off the rostrum – Alejandro Valverde and Primož Roglič – have managed to enhance on their lead to any of the next Excursions.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), having completed simply behind Geraint Thomas and off the Tour podium final summer season, is at present affected by the ‘curse of fourth’ and is mendacity eighth total proper now. The Frenchman remained adamant that it’s nonetheless doable to return again into the sport.
Gaudu suffered badly on the Puy de Dôme, ending twenty fifth and dropping over a minute for the coveted third place in Paris to rivals of the calibre of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), 1:06 to Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), and 52 seconds to Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe). That’s a really completely different story to the 2022 Tour when after 9, admittedly a lot simpler, phases, he was solely 21 seconds off the rostrum and mendacity fifth total.
However regardless of mendacity 3:21 behind Hindley and having averted speaking to the media after Sunday night’s defeat, in a press convention on Monday’s relaxation day Gaudu insisted that he nonetheless remained within the podium sport.
“It wasn’t the consequence I anticipated yesterday,” Gaudu stated. “Regardless of that, I had felt actually robust in the course of the stage and I may depend on an awesome staff. So I used to be very upset.
“So the nice emotions had been there within the first week, even when the outcomes weren’t what we anticipated, sadly. However we’ve determined to go for the GC, and we’ll proceed to carry on and hope for a greater second half.”
Gaudu argued that even when the primary week of the Tour is at all times fraught, for him preliminary a part of the race had gone very properly, stating that he – in addition to teammate Thibaut Pinot – had been within the entrance group when issues fell aside on stage 1. And the race had not gone badly within the Pyrenees, both. Nevertheless, it was exactly when he was feeling at his strongest, on the Puy de Dôme, that issues had fallen aside.
“My emotions of disappointment are that a lot greater consequently,” he stated, “in order that’s why we’re going to focus a lot extra now on the second a part of the race.”
Requested instantly if he was going to alter his ways relating to the GC, Gaudu denied that may be the case. Fairly he stated, the concept could be to alter his staff’s technique to push their rivals tougher.
“Our targets after we got here in had been very bold, we wished to do higher than final 12 months, and by default which means getting on the rostrum or getting the very best consequence doable.
“Only one week has passed by, we’ve misplaced a while, however the common classification of the Tour de France is one thing for which we have now an excessive amount of respect. So I’ll take it on daily and as a staff, we’ll attempt to be extra offensive within the second a part of the race.”
Gaudu’s teammate Pinot, at present mendacity fifteenth total, however a useful supply of help for Gaudu even in his final Tour de France, supplied some historic perspective on Gaudu’s state of affairs, arguing in L’Équipe newspaper that “ever since I’ve turned professional in 2010, there has by no means been such huge gaps within the first week [of a Grand Tour].
“I feel the rostrum continues to be doable. And if a podium isn’t doable, then that’s under no circumstances ridiculous. In a Tour de France which is being raced as onerous as this one, you’ll be able to’t be essential of ending fifth or sixth. We’re simply going to say we’ll end as excessive up as we will.”
Fairly other than the Puy de Dôme being a tricky day for Groupama-FDJ, Pinot additionally stated that he and different riders had mentioned the ban on roadside spectators within the last kilometres for environmental causes, and though he understood the reasoning, there was a definitive unfavorable aspect to all of it.
“Numerous us riders talked concerning the lack of public on the ultimate a part of the route, and we thought that was a pity, it took us again to the COVID years,” he stated, when followers had been additionally banned from the sidelines.
“So it took us again to some dangerous reminiscences, even when the place was magnificent. There are logical explanation why they did that, and which I perceive, however for us, the general public is what makes the Tour.”
Searching for a mountain stage win himself, Pinot added, “as we’ve typically had repeated to us, there’s nonetheless a protracted solution to go. We’re solely on day 9 of the race, we haven’t achieved any huge mountain phases but. The phases we’ve achieved have been comparatively flat early on then onerous on the finish, which stops you from doing a lot aside from observe wheels. However from the second week onwards, we’ll have the prospect to do one thing completely different.”
“Should you take a look at the route e-book like a meal, you’ll be able to see we’ve eaten the entrée however we haven’t acquired onto the primary programs but and nonetheless much less the dessert,” added Supervisor Marc Madiot. “Numerous issues can nonetheless occur.”