It’s not for lack of trying, but for now, breakaways have not had much success in the Tour de France. On Saturday, on the first Pyrenean stage, David Gaudu managed to take the lead after a very intense start to the race. But once again, the peloton was determined to fight for the win. After coming over the Col du Tourmalet and the Hourquette d’Ancizan at the head of the race, the French climber was caught by the favorites in the final climb of Pla d’Adet. Tadej Pogacar won and secured his yellow jersey. Another chance on Sunday with the summit finish in Plateau de Beille.
For pure climbers, Saturday’s menu could only be tempting: the Col du Tourmalet, the Hourquette d’Ancizan and the Pla d’Adet combined on one stage for a total elevation gain of around 4,000 metres. There was however an issue at the start in Pau. Seventy kilometres had to be covered before tackling the first slopes, which suited the climbers much less. “It wasn’t easy to take the breakaway at the start, because it was established on the flat and we had to put one of our two climbers,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. David Gaudu and Lenny Martinez, did try in the first hour of racing, as did Quentin Pacher, Kevin Geniets, Clément Russo and even Stefan Küng. Once again very active, the Groupama-FDJ squad was rewarded after some fifty kilometres of racing, when David Gaudu managed to join a group of fifteen riders behind eight men who had got clear earlier. “I absolutely wanted to be in front today, but when there is no climb, it’s difficult to know when it’s going to go,” David said. “Consequently, you spend a lot of energy, and you feel already quite tired when you join the break. It’s part of the game, we deal with it, but the hardest part today was undoubtedly entering the breakaway.”
“UAE did not want to let it go”, Benoît Vaugrenard
After several minutes of efforts, the chasing group joined the leading one, and the breakaway then included several sprinters, such as the green jersey Biniam Girmay or Jasper Philipsen, but also Ben Healy, Kévin Vauquelin, Alexey Lutsenko or Oier Lazkano for instance. These men soon got to the bottom of the Tourmalet, but with the peloton not so far behind. “David did well to take the breakaway, but once again, UAE did not want to let it go,” explained Benoît. “We’re not the one to decide if the breakaway will make it or not,” added David. “UAE probably wanted another stage victory.” The gap reached the three-minute mark, but then no longer increased. With that in mind, David Gaudu gradually set himself other goals. “I tried to come first at the top of the Tourmalet because it would have been a nice nod,” he said. “But when I saw Lazkano’s attack, I didn’t want to waste a bullet.” The breakaway reduced a lot on the Tourmalet, then the riders tackled the Hourquette d’Ancizan after a fast descent. David Gaudu reached the summit first this time, ahead of Lazkano. “It doesn’t mean much because I think that the best climber’s jersey will be really very hard to get,” he said. “It might go to one of the GC riders.”
“I had a lot of fun”, David Gaudu
In the meantime, the peloton came back just one minute and a half behind, which was more or less the gap as the leading group entered the final climb of Pla d’Adet, in Saint-Lary-Soulan. From a small, six-man breakaway, David Gaudu attacked with Ben Healy for a last stand. “We gave everything until the end,” he said. “Ben Healy attacked, I tried to counterattack because I wanted to go fast and I still had one bullet, but he had more than me. In the end, we attacked each other for nothing. It was not yet the right day for a stage victory.” The Irishman pushed the attempt a little further than the Frenchman, who was caught by the pack about eight kilometres from the summit. The fight between the favorites therefore concluded the day, and Tadej Pogacar won solo and strengthened the yellow jersey. “We have to try again, and we will try again tomorrow,” Benoît promised. “Pogacar made a gap on GC. Will he want to go for it again tomorrow? We will fight for the stage as far as we’re concerned, and we will see what happens in the back. In any case, David is getting better and better and he had fun today.” “I had a lot of fun, and the crowd was really amazing,” confirmed the Breton. “I’ll now try to recover because the start will be very difficult tomorrow. I might have sore legs at the beginning, but I’ll have to get through it to be in the breakaway.”
On Sunday, 5,000 meters of elevation gain will be on the riders’ program, but they will be more spread out than this Saturday. The stage will begin with the ascent of the Col de Peyresourde and will conclude 200 kilometers further with that of the Plateau de Beille. Between those two ascents, a good amount of valley and some serious climbs.
