"I completely exploded in the last kilometre" - David Gaudu dramatically loses Tour of Oman lead on final stage

David Gaudu has shown good signs in his opening stage race of 2025. Ultimately though, the general classification win proved illusive as the French leader of Groupama - FDJ lost the Red Jersey on the final climb of the final stage, to pass on the race lead to Adam Yates.

"When you have the leader's jersey in the morning and you lose it on the last stage, it's obviously disappointing," reflected Gaudu post-stage, in quotes collected by L'Equipe, having finished 3rd on stage 5 behind Yates and Valentin Paret-Peintre. " I gave it my all. I fought hard today and in the end I gave up. I completely exploded in the last kilometre. If there'd been a one-second gap overall, there would have been a lot of frustration, but there's nothing to say about that. I blew the engine. They were stronger than me. I can only bow my head and say well done to them."

"I didn't have the best feeling in my life but at the foot of Green Mountain, I was still going well. On courses like this, it's hard to tell before the final climb. Maybe I went so deep two days ago (on stage 3, which he won) that I haven't really recovered from that day yet," adds Gaudu, looking for explanations. "Jay Vine's relay really, really hurt me. When Yates attacked for the first time, I managed to come back. After that, I tried to go over the top. I closed my mouth, I held back the pain, I said to myself: come on, give them a headache, maybe it'll go away. Well, it didn't."

Nevertheless, there is reason to be optimistic for Gaudu as he leaves Oman. "Yes, I'm really sorry for the team that I didn't manage to keep the jersey, but I gave it my all. I couldn't have given any more. I finished really badly again today but all in all, the week's results are good," he concludes. "We're on the podium, I've opened my victory counter this year, but I'd have liked the icing on the cake. I've already finished 2nd in Paris-Nice behind Tadej Pogacar (in 2023) but I've never won an overall in the pros. It won't happen this week but I hope to get there one day."