“I follow it all with a certain smile” - Marc Madiot on Stefan Küng rumours and David Gaudu’s Giro d’Italia leadership

As the 2025 Giro d’Italia prepares to roll out tomorrow, Groupama - FDJ finds itself in the headlines not only for the race ahead but also for growing speculation surrounding Stefan Küng’s future. Reports have suggested that the Swiss rider will leave the French team at the end of the 2025 season, but team boss Marc Madiot remains unfazed by the rumours.

Speaking to Cyclism’Actu before the Giro, Madiot made it clear he won’t be drawn into transfer speculation. “I don't comment on this kind of thing anymore, because sometimes I even learn that I'm in contact with runners I've never met or talked to. I'm very careful about what I read or see, and I follow it all with a certain smile... and a fair amount of perspective.”

For now, the team’s focus is firmly on Italy, where David Gaudu leads the squad. The French climber endured a disrupted start to the season following a crash at Tirreno-Adriatico, which derailed his momentum after an encouraging early season that included victory at the Tour of Oman.

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“These crashes, and especially the one at Tirreno-Adriatico, disrupted his entire start to the season, because otherwise he had started off pretty well by winning the Tour of Oman and finishing on the podium. So, we've gotten out of that bad spiral a bit, he was able to recover, and he got back into it calmly at the Tour de Romandie,” said Madiot.

However, expectations for Gaudu’s general classification campaign are being tempered, at least for now. “The difficulty for him will be the first part of the Giro, to find all his sensations and his best physical level. Afterwards, once he's passed this first half of the Giro, we should have a good level of Gaudu in the mountain stages.

“He should improve as the stages go by, and we'll see where that puts us. But for now, it's difficult to project ourselves in terms of the general classification; we'll already be taking it one day at a time at the start of the race.”

While there is cautious optimism that Gaudu can grow into the race, Madiot emphasised the need for patience. “We don't know how he'll regain his full potential, at what timeframe... We know it will come back, we're convinced of that, because the stages and the race will mean that he'll gradually improve. But we don't know when and at what level. We have to give ourselves a little time and patience...”

Beyond Gaudu’s GC prospects, stage wins remain a key objective for Groupama–FDJ during the three-week race. “The idea is to go for a stage win with the team. And then if we can have a good final ranking with David, if he doesn't lose too much time in the first half of the race... We'll do a bit of what we did in La Vuelta last year, that's the idea. Now we'll see how things go.”

Madiot also acknowledged the tactical flexibility the Giro allows, especially compared to the Tour de France. “We know that a Giro offers slightly greater opportunities than the Tour de France. We'll try to take advantage of them and be active with our riders to join the breakaways when the standings allow.”