After almost two months without a race, to recover from falls and illnesses, David Gaudu is present in the Dauphiné this week.
To everyone's surprise, he won a stage in a sprint (on a bump) ahead of Wout Van Aert.
If he has no real objectives during this Dauphiné, he is preparing as well as possible for the Tour de France, where he will be part of a trio of leaders in the company of Thibaut Pinot and Michael Storer.
If you're a bit connected to social networks, you've probably seen it.
And then you let out a sigh of distress, even disgust.
Motivating messages, based on "the future belongs to those who get up early", "we feed the body and the mind" or "we don't lose, we learn" abound, especially on LinkedIn.
Not enough, of course, to make you get up from your sofa and run those 5 km around the lake near your home.
There is much more effective: the small voice which resounds in the brain of David Gaudu, for example.
The one that allows the Groupama-FDF rider to surpass himself.
Latest example, Wednesday during the Dauphiné time trial.
Author of a “very correct” time, according to himself and his coach, David Han, he especially wanted Wout Van Aert, who left two minutes later, not to overtake him.
The little voice then started up: “When they told me it was six seconds away, I put everything on, told Gaudu.
I said to myself: "he must not come in."
I didn't care about the weather on arrival, I just wanted him not to come in.
»
Falls, illness, the bad series
Same scenario the day before, always with the same protagonists, upon arrival in Chastreix-Sancy.
While victory seems promised to the Belgian, who even raises his arms before the line, Gaudu arrives from nowhere to toast the Belgian champion.
“I saw that he was starting to get up because he thought he had enough of a lead, commented the Breton on arrival.
I thought, "I'm going to eat it," and I ate it.
Victory in the sprint at the finish and return to the fore after a few complicated weeks at the start of spring.
"On the Tour, I was too nervous", David Gaudu in search of progress via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/fIrMYEwBo4
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If he had "started the season in the Algarve well", according to Han, with a stage victory, he then chained the galleys.
A fall in the Laigueglia Trophy, two others in Paris-Nice, with a small fracture to a vertebra in the key, bronchitis in the Tour of the Basque Country.
“After a small series like that, when you approach a stage, you are more restrained, comments the former FDJ rider, Lilian Jégou.
Not necessarily because you're afraid of falling, but because you know how much work you have to do to get back to the top level.
And the more you doubt, the more restrained you are.
It's a bad spiral.
»
“Seeing Liège-Bastogne-Liège on TV could have been hard”
“After all the troubles I had in March, it's an explosion of joy, admitted Gaudu after his success.
I'm a little emotional, I've been looking for a win like this since the beginning of the year.
“David Han is keen to temper a little the galleys experienced by his foal, whom he has been training for six years: “The injuries have evolved well, we took the time to come back, it was not a big fracture either.
I think it was more the fact of accepting not to go on his Paris-Nice objectives or to be competitive on the Tour of the Basque Country which was hard, like watching Liège-Bastogne-Liège on TV.
»
Instead: rest, recuperation, fitness, training, internship... Almost two months without racing before starting again at the Mercan'Tour Classic, at the end of May, "in search of sensations".
On arrival, a third place which allowed him to switch with confidence to the Dauphiné, always with this in mind to prepare as well as possible for the Grande Boucle.
“It allows us to build pressure before the Tour de France, says David Han.
The Dauphiné is not an objective, it has good legs but, logically, it will still be in better shape on the Tour.
»
Assert yourself as a leader
This bodes well, especially since the 25-year-old rider has been named one of the three leaders of Groupama-FDJ for the three-week race, along with Thibaut Pinot and the Australian Michael Storer.
And to see him confident in this way, and winner of a stage against big competition, a few weeks before the big start, can only be positive.
Lilan Jegou:
When you are a leader, you have to bring victories to your team.
The fact of having won on Tuesday will reinforce him, not only in his status, but also with his teammates.
When you win, your teammates give even more and the team is more united.
It's also easier during the morning briefings to impose his personal strategy, because we know he's capable of winning in the sprint, not necessarily on his home turf.
»
Above all, this will allow Gaudu to arrive "without pressure" (according to his coach) on the Tour, on the strength of this victory over the Dauphiné, his progress in time and this triumvirate at the head of the French team.
“The fact of distributing the leadership is not a bad idea, recognizes Jégou.
Having only one leader, especially with this first week on the cobblestones, is not necessarily a good strategy.
The team may refocus on one person after the first week.
Until then, the little voice has time to prepare its motivating speeches.
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