For the third time in a week, the Vuelta a Espana ended with a hill-top finish on Saturday. In Cazorla, a rather explosive effort was required, and David Gaudu tried to limit his losses as much as possible, after a complicated start to the climb due to a crash in front of him. The Frenchman then fought hard to take eighteenth place, one minute behind the winner Primoz Roglic. The Groupama-FDJ leader now sits in sixteenth place overall before a really hard day on Sunday towards Granada.
This Saturday, on stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espana, everything seemed to announce a breakaway victory after 160 kilometres, on the irregular climb of Cazorla (4.8 km at 7.2%). Consequently, the battle at the start to get the right move obviously proved to be frantic. It began at 1:30 p.m., and it spread over nearly sixty kilometres, on undulating terrain. In accordance with the day’s ambitions of Groupama-FDJ, Sven-Erik Bystrom, Quentin Pacher and Rémy Rochas gave it a try. However, after ninety minutes of fighting, a breakaway of eight men without Thierry Bricaud’s riders eventually went clear. “We wanted to be in front today, especially with Rémy because the final could suit him,” explained the French sports director. “He tried many times, but he didn’t manage to get the right one. In hindsight, we don’t have so many regrets because the breakaway didn’t make it. In any case, there’s still just as much motivation and that’s the most important thing.” The breakaway’s lead initially remained around five minutes, then Israel-Premier Tech took on the chase at full speed.
“David is not giving up”, Thierry Bricaud
On the hilly final leading up to the last climb, the gap was significantly reduced, and the peloton tackled the bottom of the Sierra de Cazorla just one minute behind the three remaining fugitives. At the bottom, David Gaudu also experienced a small setback, with Aleksandr Vlasov crashing in front of him. “He got a bit delayed,” commented Thierry. On steep slopes, the Frenchman made an effort to gradually catch up with a very small red jersey group. He managed to do so about three kilometres from the summit, but he was unable to follow when Roglic attacked a few moments later. After a very demanding final kilometre, David Gaudu eventually took eighteenth place, 1’01 behind the Slovenian winner, but only fifteen seconds behind the red jersey Ben O’Connor. “I’m disappointed, I thought I had much better legs”, said David. “It doesn’t pay back the team that has been working hard since the start”. “He limited the losses, especially since he had to make an effort to get back at the bottom,” added Thierry. “We mustn’t forget that it’s 37-38 degrees and that you pay for every effort in these conditions. He’s not giving up, he’s up there. Tomorrow, it will be a strong stage, and things will be clearer then.”
On Saturday evening, the French climber is sixteenth overall, 6’30 behind the red jersey, two minutes behind the podium, and one minute behind the top 10.
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