"He's super arrogant. I find that difficult to deal with" - Former pro not so fond of Vuelta leader David Gaudu

Quite unexpectedly, David Gaudu became a major protagonist of the early stages of this year's Vuelta a Espana. The Frenchman started 2025 strongly with a stage win and a third place overall at the Tour of Oman. But since then - nothing. All of a sudden, Gaudu has won a stage and now even moved into the race lead. Quite a comeback.

Former professional Roxane Knetemann had the opportunity to meet Gaudu at the start of his professional career. In 2017, Knetemann had just joined FDJ's female branch. At the same time, Gaudu made his professional debut for FDJ. However their mutual interaction was quite minimal.

"Back then, he was really just a boy, and he didn't talk to women on bikes," the former rider recalls in the In het Wiel podcast. "I found him a bit annoying. At the time, I thought: That little boy, maybe he's just a bit shy. But then I realized it wasn't shyness. He's super arrogant. I find that difficult to deal with."

Gaudu's victory on Monday didn't go without a controversy. The Frenchman approached last corner from third position, but was able to get past race leader Jonas Vingegaard as well as favourite Mads Pedersen with a single move. Unfortunately, race cameras didn't provide an ideal angle of the final hairpin, but his competitors didn't sound fond of his actions afterwards. "Vingegaard was in the front row, of course, so maybe he saw something. Something that looked like a T-bone. We saw him turn in. And when he came out of the corner, nothing happened."