After trying to take his own pace on Friday and looking for his limits on Saturday, David Gaudu went for another strategy this Sunday on the eighth and final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Towards the Plateau des Glières, the French climber gave it a go through the early breakaway, which he managed to join after a great fight in the Col de la Forclaz. Unfortunately, the peloton didn’t give any chance to the fugitives, who were caught at the bottom of the final climb. David Gaudu then took 30th place on the line and moved up to fifteenth place in the final general classification.
The Critérium du Dauphiné’s mountainous weekend was set to end this Sunday with 160 kilometres of racing and 3,700 meters of elevation gain towards the Plateau des Glières. The final climb (9.3 km at 7.3%) was preceded by the ascent of Le Salève (12 km at 7%), but the tough start with the Col de la Forclaz (7.1 km at 7 .2%) was also supposed to bring some action. David Gaudu, in particular, was willing to go on the attack on this last day of racing. The Breton then did what he had to do, and did not miss the good move, which was formed as they approached the Forclaz’ summit. “The goal was to enter the breakaway today,” confirmed Benoît Vaugrenard. “Yesterday, he had to stay with the leaders because we thought it would come down to a GC battle. Today, we thought it was going to be more about the breakaway. We really had to try. We couldn’t settle for sixteenth place.” Unfortunately for David Gaudu and his ten breakaway companions, including Bruno Armirail, Guillaume Martin, Marc Soler and Lorenzo Fortunato, the peloton never really eased off in this final stage.
“This Dauphiné will make me improve”, David Gaudu
At the head of the race, the breakaway gradually gained time, and obtained up to a four-minute lead, but Ineos Grenadiers accelerated on the penultimate climb, and the front group’s hopes drastically reduced. “We were a really good group, I thought we could do it, but they didn’t give us enough time,” said David. “It is how it is, even though the best rider overall, which was Soler, was quite far.” Thanks to the work of Bora-hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek in the portion leading to the bottom of the Plateau des Glières’ ascent, the pack even came back just thirty seconds behind the break. David Gaudu kept on going on the first slopes, and also tried to follow Giulio Ciccone, who attacked among the favorites, before he finished at his own pace. “I was already quite exhausted coming to the final climb, then I did the best I could,” he said. “I didn’t have much left in the end”. “He gave a lot from the start and used a lot of energy to try to take the breakaway, so when you are caught by such leaders, your race is obviously over,” said Benoît.
At the end of the final climb, Carlos Rodriguez took the victory and Primoz Roglic saved his yellow jersey. Thirtieth at the summit, David Gaudu moved up to fifteenth in the general classification. “The goal of this Dauphiné was to get back on track, make some good efforts, and test myself against the others,” explained the Frenchman. “We are racers, so we obviously want to get results. But it’s already difficult to get results when you’re at 100%, and I know I wasn’t 100% here. This Dauphiné, on the other hand, will make me improve. We are on a rising phase. I often succeeded in the Tour when I worked well on the Dauphiné. So see you on the Tour!” When it came time to take stock of the week, Benoît Vaugrenard looked rather satisfied. “We were active in the breakaways, even if none made it to the end this week, and we didn’t come far from victory with Romain,” he said. “In the mountains, we were missing a little something to fight up front, but the team worked well for the future. Above all, they had an impact on the race. There is still work to do, we know that, but the French championship will allow us to continue building up, and there are still three weeks left before the Tour.”
No comment