David Gaudu, the rebound almost unexpected after so many galleys

Irregular, and weighed down by a season particularly rich in falls, the Frenchman defeated the Indian sign on Monday, winning in the middle of the best on the 3rd stage of the Tour of Spain.

Almost two months to the day after giving up taking the start of the Tour de France, David Gaudu raised arms on the Vuelta, Monday August 25. Both hands on the helmet just after crossing the finish line in Ceres, Italy, French did not believe his own eyes. “It's a lot of emotions”he reacted briefly in front of the camera, while trying to remember the date of his last victory on the World Tour circuit.

It was in June 2022, on the Critérium du Dauphiné, in a similar effort, a sprint in a reduced committee, in the midst of the favorites. That day, he had beaten Wout Van Aert. On Monday, he played another experienced sprinter, in this case Mads Pedersen, a huge favorite of the day. The Finistère, who had recognized the final, played perfectly by doubling Jonas Vingegaard in the last turn and approaching the last straight line in the wheel of Pedersen, before jumping in the last meters.

“I have been in a hassle since the beginning of the year. I know that I have sensations, I know the level at which I can evolve and I can't show it”traced the person concerned at the microphone of Eurosport. Fallen on multiple times this year, in training in February or on the Giro in May, David Gaudu lived a particularly jerky 2025. The promises seen at the very start of the season on the Tour of Oman (a stage victory and 3rd of the general) could never be confirmed.

Announcing “Zap the Tour de France”observing himself an insufficient level, that which was presented as the successor of Thibaut Pinot at Groupama-FDJ had extinguished the last expectations around him at the highest level for general rankings. Before his shot on Monday, the 4th of the Tour de France 2022 remained on a Tour de l'Ain not necessarily reassuring in early August. If he worked in the victory in the sprint of his teammate Tom Donnwirth, the climber did not exist in the mountains (49th of the general).

It is with less pressure, necessarily, and more freedom that he presented himself at the start of the Tour of Spain, who did not appear on his program at the start of the year. “I have lived so many moments struggling in my career. I am not close to it”he philosophizes the day before departure. A few days later, he offered Groupama-FDJ his first success in the big tour of the year. Since 2023, the French team had gleaned only a victory at this level, on the Vuelta 2024 and the time trial dominated by Stefan Küng.

The Swiss was one of the runners most affected by the victory of his teammate on Monday. “When he started raining yesterday, he lived a very bad time. 10 terminals of arrival, I went to speak to him. I know him very well, I did so many shopping with him … Sometimes he tends to fall into a negative spiral. He was missing a little confidence. Today, he showed what he was capable of”he reported to the microphone of Eurosport.

With David Gaudu, it's often a story of confidence. The day before, he told how good he had good sensations and still finished on the podium in the stage. Now that confidence is found, its challenge is to set the right objective for the rest of this Vuelta which does not start: playing a good general classification or continuing to aim for successes of stages, even if it means letting go of a little certain days?