Here it is, the icing on the cake! After missing the leader’s red jersey on Monday evening despite his victory in Ceres, due to the addition of places against Jonas Vingegaard, David Gaudu didn’t let his chance slip away on Tuesday. As the Vuelta a España reached Voiron, the Breton fought hard to join the sprint and put at least eight positions between him and the Dane. He clearly achieved this goal, which allowed to take the overall lead on the eve of the return to Spain, where a team time trial will be held on Wednesday. The wonderful Vuelta a España start continues.
The idea was obviously on everyone’s mind in Susa, Italy, on Tuesday morning. Ranked with the same time as Jonas Vingegaard after three days of racing, David Gaudu was only behind the Dane because of their ranking in the opening sprint in Novara. Eight places separated them back then, which was the difference the Breton had to make up in Voiron on stage 4 if he wanted to claim the famous red jersey. “We wanted to give it a go, but on the other hand, I was also a little cautious because we know that sprints can be dangerous, and I’ve crashed enough this year,” said the Frenchman. “I told the guys that the first goal was to stay safe. It was a mini-goal, but we didn’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves.” “There were actually two possible scenarios today,” added Frédéric Guesdon. “The first was that a strong group would take advantage of the hard start to go clear and fight for the stage. Visma-Lease a Bike probably wouldn’t have defended the jersey, and that would have automatically trapped us. We had to be very careful at the start, and we were, but in the end, it didn’t fight for long. We quickly realized it would be a sprint finish.”
“It was up to David to judge what risks he was willing to take”, Frédéric Guesdon
As the day before, the breakaway posed no threat to the peloton on Tuesday, after climbing the Col de Montgenèvre and the Col du Lautaret in the first seventy kilometres. The sprinters teams immediately took control of the situation and even caught the day’s four fugitives more than 90 kilometres from the finish line. Another rider went on the attack shortly afterward but was reeled in before the final hour of racing, about ten kilometres before the intermediate sprint. The Groupama-FDJ cycling team was then right up there at the front, alongside its Breton leader. “I didn’t want to compete in the intermediate sprint initially, and I was glad the Spanish rider went away because I thought Pedersen and Philipsen might be able to take the remaining time bonuses,” David explained. “In the end, I got caught up in the excitement and found myself in Ciccone’s wheel.” The Frenchman then took part in this sprint but was unable to pick up any seconds. “The top-3 was Pedersen, Vernon, and Stewart,” he said. “There wasn’t much to do. However, I immediately said on the radio: ‘Guys, let’s keep focused. We still have the finish line to go for the jersey.”. His words were heard, as the French team never left the front of the pack in the final twenty kilometres.
Stefan Küng was the French climber’s last man, until about three kilometres from the finish line. “David is second overall, he’s going strong, so we had to race in front and be up to it,” Frédéric said. “The key point was at 2.8 km, and we just about managed to hold the lead until then, then things got a bit hectic. We worked a lot beforehand, and it was difficult to keep the lead against the sprinters’ teams. That said, we understood that David was going strong when he sprinted to the right side of the road to get back in front with three kilometres to go. It was then up to him to judge what risks he was willing to take. The final was quite dangerous, and we knew that Vingegaard would be on his guard. He actually dropped back a little at five kilometres, and David had that in mind. He knew it was an opportunity to go for the jersey, so he forced himself a little to stay there, while remaining cautious.” The battle for positioning proved particularly fierce in the final two kilometres, but the Groupama-FDJ climber managed to keep up the pace and crossed the line in 28th position. “I couldn’t have done better,” David said shortly after the finish. “It’s the first and last time I’m going in there. It’s not where I belong (laughs).”
“I went for this jersey for the team,” David Gaudu
Immediately joined by his teammates, seeking confirmation about the red jersey goal, David Gaudu remained cautious but confident. The small doubt was however quickly dispelled, as Vingegaard crossed the finish line seventeen positions behind his French rival. The Breton and his teammates went from contained to pure joy in a split of a second. For the second time in two days. “Taking the jersey is a right reward for the guys’ work today,” David said. “It’s a bit symbolic because I won in Italy after a disappointing Giro, and I took the leader’s jersey in France. It’s a nice nod, and I feel a lot of emotions. This one is for the team. They’ve had my back since the beginning of the season, all the guys who are here worked hard and took risks. They had no certainty about my level just three days ago, but they trusted me. I went for this jersey for them.” “You could say it’s the icing on the cake, and it’s especially a confirmation of our strong start to the Vuelta,” added Frédéric Guesdon. “It’s also a reward for the investment this group has put into preparing for the Vuelta, and it obviously does the team a lot of good, as we deserved to get this kind of results”.
Groupama-FDJ therefore headed to Spain on Tuesday evening with a stage victory, a leader’s red jersey, and a podium finish on their bags. “The staff is travelling by car, the riders are taking the plane, and even if the team time trial is late tomorrow afternoon, everyone will be working hard from tomorrow morning because time trial days are always long,” concluded Frédéric. “The next 24 hours will be very busy, but fortunately, the results are making everyone happy! We know it will be hard to keep the jersey, but the team has prepared well for the team time trial, and we wanted to give it our all no matter what.” “We will give it our all, we will see how it goes, but let’s take it day by day,” concluded David. “For the time being, we have achieved the day’s goal.”
