"It's not off to a good start" - Cyrille Guimard laments poor performances of French GC hopes

At the beginning of the 2023 Tour de France, both David Gaudu and Romain Bardet will have harboured hopes of achieving a place on the podium. After relatively disappointing first weeks from both though, that now seems unlikely.

"The French did not score points yesterday (Sunday). David Gaudu was short, and Romain Bardet was too. It was a very bad day for both of them," laments Cyrille Guimard to Cyclism'Actu, referencing the stage 9 summit finish atop Puy de Dome that saw both of the French hopes lose time to their general classification rivals.

"In front, there is still Jai Hindley, Carlos Rodriguez, the Yates brothers and Tom Pidcock, who arrives quietly and confirms all his talent," Guimard analyses. "It's not off to a good start for the French, and I also think that David has understood this a little. His attitude and his speech have changed a little bit, and that is not going in the direction of confidence. If I exclude Gaudu from the race for the podium? Sorry to say that, but it's the one with the least chance."