Among the main Groupama-FDJ cyclists, David Gaudu is certainly the one who experienced the most frustrating 2023 season. Brilliant at the beginning of last year, with great performances at Paris-Nice, the Frenchman pursued his best level in June and July, without success, finishing the Tour de France in a frustrating 9th place overall.
In an interview with the French website Ciclismactu, he commented on his prospects for 2024. “I wouldn’t say I’m the captain of the team, I’m one of the leaders. We don’t perform well in just one type of race.”
We have the Flanders Classics with Stefan(Kung) and Valentin (Madouas), the grand tours with (Lenny) Martinez, a sprint group that is reforming, (Romain) Grégoire who goes everywhere who will certainly achieve a number incredible number of victories. I’m the leader of the Tour’s general classification, but I’m not the team leader, that’s a word that should be banned.”
Tour de France will be the big goal
“Marc Madiot, the sports management and sponsors directed me to the Tour, but I also wanted to return. I’m a person who likes to bounce back after a failure.”
What about the countless criticisms you suffered? “It’s normal, we are public figures. That’s the game, but cycling should also remain a popular sport. Then I did a big reset this winter, I cut back on social media a lot and I think it did me a lot of good.”
“We want to be more offensive, take more risks. The Fantastic 4 (Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic) may face each other and that may leave opportunities behind. Do your Tour de France, don’t give up and don’t necessarily worry about the Fantástico 4″, concludes French.
Check out the full interview: