David Gaudu discussion thread

[Tonton]

Team ops to restore his image ahead of Le Tour. David Gaudu has been taking a lot of flak between the Démare story, how it came to light, and Pinot to the Tour: David said "yes (as my dom)", then "I keep my opinion to myself".

No one can agree on the most basic things in France. It's a country that took 10 years to get over Pinot vs. Bardet, where Puy-de-Dome will always be Anquetil vs. Poulidor even if a UFO landed on top of the Puy. Bickering is a way of life: don't get sucked in! Today l'Equipe featured '86 and Hinault vs. LeMond...

What was David Gaudu thinking? Duh...he learned a lesson for sure.

I believe his words about Thibaut. I wish David a great Tour.

 

[cen]

Just because he is getting so much hate I am starting to like him more and more. He made a mistake with Demare after he says he has been kinda bullied by the same Demare before. *** happens.

Gaudu is a nice rider to watch, not afraid to attack and able to surprise from time to time. I hope he does well.

I really like all his wins from the past few years but he hasn't shown much this year, thus low expectations.

 

[Fantastico]

I really like all his wins from the past few years but he hasn't shown much this year, thus low expectations.

He hasn't shown much lately, but IMO in Paris-Nice and Itzulia he was stronger than he had ever been before.

 

[cen]

He should lose 15 minutes on tuesday and start going for stages, win a couple in legendary fashion like in the Vuelta..

 

[Rackham]

He should lose 15 minutes on tuesday and start going for stages, win a couple in legendary fashion like in the Vuelta..

He doesn't want to. It would be perceived as a personal failure. FDJ also want the UCI points associated with a top 5 finish.

Pinot saved Gaudu on Puy-de-Dôme though, i.e. insofar as he rescued his place in the top 10. But a podium looks totally impossible right now (& even 5th seems way off).

 

[Valv.Piti]

Quite a pathetic performance with the whole season and the WHOLE team structured about you.

Just give it up already, Madiot. Pinot is not a donkey, and especially not for such a mediocre rider such as Gaudu. And don't get me started on Demare!

 

[AlfaLum]

Quite a pathetic performance with the whole season and the WHOLE team structured about you.

Just give it up already, Madiot. Pinot is not a donkey, and especially not for such a mediocre rider such as Gaudu. And don't get me started on Demare!

Yeah yeah, we know by now how much you dislike Gaudu. And I will admit he has given cause to dislike him. But here is small list:

2014: Pinot 3rd
2015-2021: No FDJ in top-10
2022: Gaudu 4th
2023: ?

Who knows but he is still on his way to a top-10. He isn’t great this year, but it isn’t patethic either, it is just about where you can expect a GC rider from a French team nowadays.

Gaudu will be very important in the years to come to keep away some of the pressure that will be building for Lenny and Gregoire soon. Otherwise those two future greats will be the next two to drown in French WT teams.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Given Gaudu was 4th last year, the route should suit him well and he beat Vingegaard in Paris-Nice I think it was fair to give him the chance with a full team at his disposal. He’s not old, but still it kind of felt like this could be the one chance to get on the podium.

It didn’t work out - *** happens - but he’s not doing horrible. He’s still fighting for top 5 (we know Yates brothers tend to blow up and Pidcock blew up last year) and there are still chances for the team (Pinot) to win a stage from a breakaway.

I think it’s also a good experience for the team to actually try to go all in for one leader, it might be useful experience for the future if some of their kids turns out to be the real deal.

 

[staubsauger]

Gaudu currently climbs worse than Gall. So dropping time to go for stages and polka dots doesn't make sense IMHO. He's still beat Frenchman on the general classification and might very well end up in 6th position at least.

I just don't see the chance for a Virenque style attack. Ineos won't allow him to gain back time as long as he's only 2 minutes down on the general classification.

Gaudu could absolutely podium the Vuelta a Espana. That's a race suited to his characteristics.

 

[Tonton]

No "likes" from me for the latest posts, I didn't fully agree with any of them...but if I sum up what I agree with and add my $0,02, here's how it looks:

It's still early in this Tour: the team invested in Gaudu many years ago, he got a shot last year and finished 4th. It's fair to give him a second shot and really, it's now or never. It won't be easier if Remco and Ayuso show up next year.

Seeing Pinot/Aeneas carrying Gaudu on his back for the final 4 km today, unless you're a fan of Greek literature, it was not looking good. But it's still too early to pull the plug and deal with the consequences of a vote of no confidence by the team.

I want Pinot to go for breaks, trust me. Today, Tibo saved Gaudu's Tour, like he did last year. David's face looked like Voeckler's '11 put in a microwave...yikes. Pinot clearly is a better rider, right now. As hot as it was, Thibaut was strong, his form is good; he has to get his shots sooner rather than later. The Bastille Day stage is just perfect for it.

It's far from over and David can finish strong. Rest Day 1 standings are very different from the final standings, it still is so early. But there are reasons for concern.

I wish David Gaudu the best, get a podium and go to Italy next year.

 

[movingtarget]

Long way to go but Gaudu obviously suffered yesterday. His pre Tour form wasn't good so maybe he improves in the second half of the race.

 

[Rackham]

No "likes" from me for the latest posts, I didn't fully agree with any of them...but if I sum up what I agree with and add my $0,02, here's how it looks:

It's still early in this Tour: the team invested in Gaudu many years ago, he got a shot last year and finished 4th. It's fair to give him a second shot and really, it's now or never. It won't be easier if Remco and Ayuso show up next year.

Seeing Pinot/Aeneas carrying Gaudu on his back for the final 4 km today, unless you're a fan of Greek literature, it was not looking good. But it's still too early to pull the plug and deal with the consequences of a vote of no confidence by the team.

I want Pinot to go for breaks, trust me. Today, Tibo saved Gaudu's Tour, like he did last year. David's face looked like Voeckler's '11 put in a microwave...yikes. Pinot clearly is a better rider, right now. As hot as it was, Thibaut was strong, his form is good; he has to get his shots sooner rather than later. The Bastille Day stage is just perfect for it.

It's far from over and David can finish strong. Rest Day 1 standings are very different from the final standings, it still is so early. But there are reasons for concern.

I wish David Gaudu the best, get a podium and go to Italy next year.

The issue with Gaudu isn't the fact FDJ backs him, it's the fact he demands a full team at his service & the team gives it to him, i.e. when his 'objective' (if we can call being best of the rest an objective) has always mostly just entailed following wheels.

When we see Louis Meintjies just cruising up Puy-de-Dôme with no teammates, or how Simon Yates just 'gets on with it' at Jayco with pretty much only Chris Harper as a dom (Groenewegen gets support on his side), then within this context I reckon a lot of the criticism of Gaudu is entirely... justified. Even more so when Pinot's farewell Tour is turning into a babysitting Tour for a dude sitting 8th on GC.

Gaudu is basically better at intra team politicking than he is at climbing cols (just ask Démare...). This might sound harsh but from my point of view it's pretty a big outlier in the Tour de France to see a rider sitting towards the backend of top 10 (i.e. importantly a rider who hasn't had a good spring this year either) with 7 doms at his service like he's a GC favorite.

 

[StryderHells]

Quite a pathetic performance with the whole season and the WHOLE team structured about you.

Just give it up already, Madiot. Pinot is not a donkey, and especially not for such a mediocre rider such as Gaudu. And don't get me started on Demare!

Pathetic the whole season? He was flying up until the Ardennes, something went wrong after Itzulia but he’s still on track for a top 10 here. I agree he doesn’t need a whole team around him but to call his season pathetic is a big stretch.

 

[DNP-Old]

He certainly is not doing himself any favours this year. First his antics on Discord in regards to Demare and fending him off the squad, then some weird comments about Pinot who has saved his race on multiple occasions including yesterday, and of course his delusions about his place in the race after Marie Blanque. Prior to the race he called it podium or bust, but somehow he has exceeded the latter.

FDJ as a whole have been godawful and probably the worst team in the race. They are not chasing anything, they are not visible in breaks, they are not presenting themselves in the general classification. Seven men completely in service of nothing. Somewhere Demare is laughing his ass off.

 

[RedheadDane]

The weirdest/stupidest thing about the comments regarding Pinot is that it seems pretty clear - to me - that he never intended to indicate that he didn't want Pinot at the Tour.
However, after his comments about Demare, that was the natural conclusion for people to draw... I think I've mentioned this before, but his big mistake was posting that he wouldn't say anything about the matter, rather than just... not saying anything about the matter.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

they are not presenting themselves in the general classification.

If Gaudu had started this Tour like Landa, G.Martin and O’Connor I would have agreed with this.

Gaudu is in 8th and still in the fight for a top 5. He’a ahead of Bardet that is also aiming for the a good GC results.

I think there is some over reaction to how bad Gaudu has been this Tour.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Don't know how a nation like France can't produce a GT contender since Fignon/Hinault.

 

[vladimir]

Don't know how a nation like France can't produce a GT contender since Fignon/Hinault.

Well, to be fair Bardet has two podiums in Tour De France, and Pinot might have won if not for the injury that stopped him in stage 19 in 2019... But I agree that they never have had one of the top 3-4 GT contenders at a start of a season since Fignon, (maybe Virenque but that was the Ullrich, Riis, Pantani and later Armstrong) era.

 

[Netserk]

He certainly is not doing himself any favours this year. First his antics on Discord in regards to Demare and fending him off the squad, then some weird comments about Pinot who has saved his race on multiple occasions including yesterday, and of course his delusions about his place in the race after Marie Blanque. Prior to the race he called it podium or bust, but somehow he has exceeded the latter.

FDJ as a whole have been godawful and probably the worst team in the race. They are not chasing anything, they are not visible in breaks, they are not presenting themselves in the general classification. Seven men completely in service of nothing. Somewhere Demare is laughing his ass off.

Yep. I don't get why they didn't chase Hindley. It's surrendering the podium fight before it even began in earnest.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yep. I don't get why they didn't chase Hindley. It's surrendering the podium fight before it even began in earnest.

He needs 7 domestiques though.

For what you might ask?

I don't think he knows. He just needs them, rightfully so, defending a place in the bottom of top-10 when he gets dropped as one of the first!

You are correct - the fight for the podium is basically over before it started, and the podium is Gaudu's yellow jersey. The same can be applied to INEOS though, difference is their GC riders is actually showing up and they are part of the race.

 

[AlfaLum]

The weirdest/stupidest thing about the comments regarding Pinot is that it seems pretty clear - to me - that he never intended to indicate that he didn't want Pinot at the Tour.
However, after his comments about Demare, that was the natural conclusion for people to draw... I think I've mentioned this before, but his big mistake was posting that he wouldn't say anything about the matter, rather than just... not saying anything about the matter.

Yeah or he could have said that he is happy for his mate Pinot to be there. That would have helped a lot.

All in all I think Gaudu is being treated a bit unfair. Yes his comments on discord where super stupid, but when reading through them it kind of seems that Demare had been a treating him incorrectly quite a few years already.

Sometimes people who meet each other just don’t connect and this seems to be the case with Gaudu and Demare. So it is only natural that Gaudu wasn’t to happy to share leadership duties with a guy he absolutely doesn’t get along with. Especially taking into account that that guy often uses a train full of riders that are absolutely no help at all for a GC rider. But of course he should have just kept his comments private instead of using social media.

Anyhow Gaudu is a very capable rider in an era where we just see some amazing riders. If Gaudu had been racing 10 years ago I am quite sure he would have won more.

 

[SafeBet]

Anyhow Gaudu is a very capable rider in an era where we just see some amazing riders. If Gaudu had been racing 10 years ago I am quite sure he would have won more.

Against Froome, Quintana, Contador, Nibali? I really doubt it.

 

[movingtarget]

More domestiques wouldn't have helped Gaudu yesterday. He simply didn't have the legs. A decent climber like Meintjes can cruise to a top 20 whenever he wants without much team support, sometimes even top 10 but he's not getting paid as a team leader. Gaudu still has time to improve but it's s shame that Pinot can't stage hunt at the moment in his last Tour but you could also argue the same about some of Pinot's team mates when Pinot was having a lean time of it as well. Pinot has been around long enough to know how it works.

 

[movingtarget]

Against Froome, Quintana, Contador, Nibali? I really doubt it.

Add in Evans and the Schleck brothers plus Wiggins, Rodriguez and Sastre. The post Armstrong era was a strong one although Nibali, Froome and Contador where the top tier. Don't see that era being any easier for Gaudu at all.

 

[AlfaLum]

Contador was already declining a bit around 10 years ago. I still think that the top contenders in that era where a level below Pogacar and Vingegaard today.