David Gaudu feels his form is improving at the Dauphine: "There is still room for improvement, but I’m where I belong given my current form"

In the relatively short, yet very hard queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, David Gaudu kept on improving this Saturday. In the climb to Samoëns 1600, the Frenchman managed to follow the best for a long time, and eventually reached the summit in fourteenth position, about two minutes behind the winner and yellow jersey Primoz Roglic.

"Yesterday, I was at the limit, but I managed my effort," explained Gaudu in a press communication. "Today, I wanted to see what my limits were in my current form. I was really about to explode when I dropped, then I finished as best I could, with everything I had. It was a different strategy from yesterday. I wanted to test myself against the other big guys and see how many of them there would be left before I was distanced."

"In terms of results, it’s better than yesterday," said Gaudu at the finish. "In the end, I think the form is not that bad considering we’re on the Critérium du Dauphiné. I saw where I stood compared to the other big names. There is still room for improvement, but I’m where I belong given my current form."

Gaudu now sits in sixteenth place overall, more than seven minutes behind Roglic, and the top ten also seems unreachable at nearly four minutes ahead of Gaudu. During the final stage to Plateau des Glières, riders will face multiple shorter climbs before the final ascent. Especially those in the earlier parts could provide an argument for riders like Gaudu to try and join the daily breakaway.

"It will be another strong fight for the breakaway," confirmed sports director Benoît Vaugrenard. "We will start with the Col de la Forclaz, so we might find strong men and climbers up front, like today. There are also more gaps overall, so the breakaway might have a chance tomorrow."