That’s it, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team scored its first victory of the season. On Monday, David Gaudu indeed dominated a very demanding uphill finish on stage 3 of the Tour of Oman. After a perfect teamwork until the last kilometre, the French climber got rid of his rivals one by one, before beating Adam Yates in the very last metres. Apart from getting his twelfth career win, he also took commands of the general classification, which will be decided on Wednesday on the “Green Mountain”.
“I have been thinking about it since yesterday evening”. David Gaudu definitely expected a lot from the first summit finish of the Tour of Oman this Monday. After the 180 kilometres on the day’s menu, the peloton was going to tackle the Eastern Mountain (4.7 km at 7.6%), whose last kilometre had an average slope of 12%. In theory, this was an ideal finish for the Breton, who first spent a very “calm” day surrounded by his teammates. A four-man breakaway rode up front all day, and the last man standing, Nicolas Vinokurov, was even able to approach the final climb with a one-minute lead. After passing the first slopes, Groupama-FDJ took the lead and kept it until the very end. “The plan was to make it hard with the teammates who were still there, and we had almost everyone at the bottom of the climb,” explained Thierry Bricaud. “Everyone did their job at the right time to stifle what was left of the peloton.” “Since the first day, we’ve been racing really well,” David added. “Yesterday, we influenced the race with all our riders, but we were a bit unlucky. Today, Enzo protected us from the wind all day, then at the bottom, we showed that we were there. There is a competitive spirit in this group. We came here with the desire to do well and to get results. We didn’t even have to talk to each other in the final.”
” We were only missing victory to really get the season started,” David Gaudu
The Groupama-FDJ’s train then set up naturally. “We had a strategy to launch David in several stages,” Clément Braz-Afonso said. “It was very tense approaching the climb, but we managed to stay more or less together and to regroup at the bottom. Lorenzo first took the lead with a very big turn that made the peloton stretch out for the first time. Tom then put in a huge turn as well, and it started to explode. I was the last level of the “rocket”, and I tried to launch David as best I could. I would have liked to take him a little further, but it was still enough”. The peloton therefore reduced quite a lot before the hardest part of the slope, where David Gaudu had to take his responsibilities. Which he did. The Frenchman made a first attack one kilometre from the summit, a second one two hundred metres further up, before going for it again with 500 metres to go. “I had to try three times to manage to get away, but I think everyone was on the limit,” said David. “And if they were on the limit, it was precisely thanks to my teammates’ work.” The climber got rid of all his competitors, with the exception of Adam Yates, who remained a few metres behind.
The Briton even got back on his wheel just a hundred metres from the finish. “I was confident in my sprint,” David said. “I deliberately didn’t look behind, but I saw him come back because of his shadow. I told myself: when he opens the sprint, I open it as well, and it will come down to the legs, man against man! I knew I wouldn’t crack mentally. I had this lactic effort in mind since this morning. It’s something I’ve been able to work on this winter and I think that’s what made the difference in the final straight.” Thanks to a final, sharp kick, David Gaudu took Yates off his wheel and flew towards his first win of the season, after a very intense effort. “It’s really nice, and I needed it,” said the Frenchman. “The first victory is sometimes the hardest to get. It’s great to finish it off after everything the guys showed throughout the day. It also opens the team’s counter, as we hadn’t won until now, even if the guys did well in Australia or in Bessèges. We were only missing victory to really get the season started.”
“It’s a fair reward”, Thierry Bricaud
“It’s a great day for the team in Oman, but also for the team in general, and it rewards everyone’s winter work,” said Thierry. “David still has the momentum of his end of the 2024 season. He wants to do well, he does everything to make sure things go smooth, he’s putting in the effort he needs to, and so it’s no surprise to see him win today. It’s a fair reward for what he’s been doing for several months. He needs to make the most of this momentum.” “We’re all super happy that teamwork is paying off,” added Clément. “It’s the team’s first victory, and I hope it’s the first of many. For us domestiques, it’s incredible and extremely rewarding to have a leader who pulls it off like David did today.” As the icing on the cake, the Breton took the lead overall on Monday, and is six seconds ahead of Adam Yates with two stages to go. “We now have a jersey to defend,” Thierry said. “We can reasonably think that there will be a sprint tomorrow. Logically, the fight for the general classification will be at the top of Green Mountain on Wednesday.” “We’ll need to secure the GC, and why not get a second stage victory,” David concluded with a smile.
