Frenchman David Gaudu declares forfeit for the Tour de France 2025

Victim of several falls since the start of the season and unable to regain his level, the cyclist of Groupama-FDJ announced on Thursday, give up the big loop.

To give up rather than play the extras. The Frenchman David Gaudu announced to AFP on Thursday, June 26, to give up participating in the Tour de France, which will start on July 5 from Lille. “Given my current level … I was transparent with the team. Anyway, they have my values, my data and therefore we decided together to zap the tour this year”, said The Groupama-FDJ leaderwhich had hung a fourth place on the big loop in 2022, the best result for a tricolor runner since 2017.

“It is necessarily a big disappointment. Especially since the tour passes in Brittany this year and that my loved ones were going to be able to come and see me”, regretted the 28 -year -old climber. After seven consecutive participations, it is the first time that David Gaudu, also best French in 2023 (9th), renounces the Tour de France. “Go just to finish, it is useless”, underlined the runner who has a very bad memory of the last edition of the Grande Boucle where he had “Draw (s) misery for three weeks” (65e au final).

This season, the 28 -year -old runner had distinguished himself in early February on the Tour of Oman, winning the 3rd stage and climbing on the third step in the general classification. But the rest was only a chain of galleys who forced him to “Running after the form, all the time”. In four months, he fell four times: first because of a cat in trainingthen in the race on the Italian roads of the Strade Bianche (abandonment), De Tirreno-Adriatico (abandonment after a fracture by hand) and Giro (65th in general, with a deep cut by hand).

The Breton runner admitted to having finished the Tour of Italy “Completely cooked”. “At that time, I still believe in it. I left myself until the end of last week to go back to internship, redo mountain passes, exercises. But the sensations are still not good”, he told AFP, without being able to explain it. “We don't really have all the answers. I made medical examinations, everything is good, everything is normal.”

Feeling unable to play the top 10 in the general classification, and seeing as “complicated” power “Weigh on the race in the escapes”, The French preferred to withdraw. “The team has its strategy too” To target a stage victory and a general top 10 with Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, recalls David Gaudu who put once again on the Tour of Spain (August 23-September 14) to bounce back. “The Vuelta saved me the season in 2020 and last year. I never said to myself two without three”, he recalled.