For David Gaudu, the leader of Groupama-FDJ, the Critérium du Dauphiné was missed. He also completely let go during the final stage, this Sunday, finishing 19 minutes behind the winner, Giulio Ciccone and an anonymous 30th place in the general classification at… 25′49′’ from the winner Jonas Vingegaard. But Gaudu, in front of his bus parked in a street in Grenoble, wanted to deliver a message. “I know that people, in relation to my statements, criticize me a lot, he explains. And I just want to say that criticism is fine and I don’t care. Whether positive or negative. It is the law of sport. Cycling is a popular sport, we know that, but that does not justify being insulted. For example, I am called ” son of a bitch » in private messages. To go so far as to insult members of my family, I find that quite average. I wanted to say it. »
Gaudu who had come to light despite himself at the start of the season with the update of untimely statements he had made on the online platform Discord vis-à-vis his teammate Arnaud Démare. He had to publicly apologize and then went on a kind of digital diet where he didn’t read what was being said about him.
But last weekend, the little Breton took over a virtual tide on the theme of the ungrateful runner. In question a sentence dropped the day before the start about the participation or not of Thibaut Pinot in the next Tour. “I have my opinion but I keep it to myself,” he explained. A sentence interpreted as a refusal to see the Franc-Comtois by his side in July. In reality, Gaudu on the contrary wants the presence of Pinot, if only to see him take all the media light at the start of the Tour. But his falling out with Démare has become public and has turned him into a scapegoat for social networks. For several days, he had warned those around him that he would speak out on these insults as soon as the Critérium du Dauphiné ended. It’s done.
