At the start of the season, the Finistère climber, invigorated after his sixth place at the Vuelta in September 2024, sparkled as soon as he spoke of his first participation in the Giro with “his tifosi, his large snow widers at more than 2000 meters above sea level and the climbing of collar in the rain”.
The objective was then to aim for a top 5 or even the podium. And his convincing start to the season, with a stage victory on Oman’s turn before Adam Yates, only made his appetite.
A fall in early February caused by an “wandering animal”, a cat in this case, was a first stop. Two new guys on the Italian roads of the Bianche Strade and especially Tirreno-Adriatico (fracture in hand) ended up showering the enthusiasm of 28-year-old Breton.
“I fall because of a cat, then on a massive fall in the peloton that I cannot avoid. Behind, I fall back and it’s totally my fault. And there is still another fall in an area of Ravito where a runner returns to me. But now it’s behind, I have been operated on, I’m again on the bike. I advance and see forward, ”insists the leader of Groupama-FDJ on Wednesday by Visio.
Finish “in cannonball”
In the end, Gaudu only returned last week to the Tour de Romandie which was “more difficult than expected because all the stages were simply run thoroughly”. “But I hung on every day and on the mountain stage (Saturday), I had already found more pleasant sensations. He was just missing a little more punch, ”explains the climber who finished 30e in the general classification.
Therefore, it is difficult to know what to expect for the Giro. “Where I’m going to be in the hierarchy, I admit that I don’t really know. If it is I will be offside from the first step. But it can also go very well until the end of the second week and I finished in cannonball. »»
-To finish “in cannonball” is even a bit of a plan. Because, as its fourth place in the Tour de France 2022 has notably proven, Gaudu generally ends the big towers. Because his spring spring brings him an additional freshness and envy – “I want to bite this giro to the fullest,” he said.
And because the Giro should more than ever be played in the third week on his favorite field, the mountain.
“We will have to dodge the traps”
“I want to go as high as possible. It will go through waiting and patience. It will be necessary to dodge the traps and succeed in having an upward form to reach the peak of form on the third week. »»
He will aim for a top 10 to the general or a stage victory, even both. Especially since there will be neither Pogacar, nor Vingegaard, Nor Evenepoel, even if “the density is enormous”, he insists, citing the Roglic, Ayuso, Carapaz and Landa.
Until then, he plans to take advantage of his first Giro, after seven towers of France and two Vueltas. “All the people I have been able to talk about since this winter have said to me:” you’re going to have fun “. I can’t wait to discover this atmosphere. »»
Far from the infernal pressure of the Tour which he will play in July in a role of free electron alongside Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet. “The tour remains apart. Losing two seconds there in the first week may be a disaster on paper, when in the third week, we will even talk about it anymore. The Giro is more unbridled ”. And he intends to contribute to it.
