"When you see a rider like Thymen Arensman winning at La Plagne..." - David Gaudu chasing 'form of his life' for 2026 Tour de France

Watching the Tour de France from his sofa last July hurt. Not because the racing was dramatic, but because David Gaudu believed he should have been there. Instead, he was at home, watching the favourites tear each other apart in the mountains, knowing his place was supposed to be among them.

Now, everything he is doing is built around making sure that never happens again.

“I spent the Tour de France last year on the sofa, and it was not fun or easy for me to watch the mountain stages,” Gaudu said in conversation with Eurosport. “So it made me want to go back, but I want to go back to perform, because I know what a Tour de France can bring when you perform there, and it is just extraordinary.”

For 2026, the Tour de France is not just another goal. It is the season.

Gaudu is clear about what he wants in July. “I want to get back into the Top 10 overall, I am made for that,” he said. “The axis of my career has always been general classifications in stage races or Grand Tours.”

But he is not chasing quiet respectability. “I also want to be able to fight for stage wins, even if it is very hard because there are not many opportunities.”

That belief comes from watching what is possible when timing and form align. “When you see a rider like Thymen Arensman last year winning the stage to La Plagne, that means there are possibilities,” Gaudu said. “You have to be there on the right day, you have to be in the form of your life.”

He knows those chances are rare. “Maybe one day there will be an opening, maybe there will not, but if there is one, you have to know how to take it.”

That is the mindset shaping his winter and everything that follows.

This winter has already felt different. “First of all, much more volume,” Gaudu explained. “I have a new coach, Italian, Luca Festa, who joined the team this year. We work much more on volume, slowly, and I am pushed much more to my limits when it comes to doing exercises.”

Those limits arrive earlier now. “I mean it is very, very hard,” he laughed. “It was already very hard before, but now we are on another level, much earlier in the season as well.”

The logic is simple. January is not the target. July is. The goal is not to feel good now. It is to make suffering in July feel normal.

Rather than easing into 2026, Gaudu plans to race straight into it. “I will race a lot at the start of the season,” he said. “I will do three stage races. I will line up at the UAE Tour, Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya.”

Those races matter because they suit him. “It is often a period that suits me well,” he said. “I have already gone well at Paris-Nice, in Catalunya, that is where I had my first World Tour results.”

He wants to see himself back near the top. “I want to get back into the Top 10 overall in those races. On all three, I do not know if it will be possible. In any case, we will give ourselves the means to try.”

And if general classification ambitions fall away early? “As a plan B, if it does not work in the general classification in those races, you have to enjoy yourself and go for a stage win on the final weekends.”

He even sees chaos as opportunity. “Sometimes the first days are a bit tense with crosswinds. And this year, the finale of Paris-Nice is a bit more punchy, but I have punchy qualities.”

There is no nostalgia in how Gaudu talks about last season. “I have completely drawn a line under the 2025 season and everything that happened before,” he said. “All of that is behind me. I do not even want to talk about it anymore.”

For him, 2026 is about visible change as well as mental reset. “Now it is 2026. Like I say, we have a new jersey, we have a new bike. It is a new season, a new year.”

That also means choosing his battles carefully. “I will not be at the Ardennes Classics this year,” he said, pointing to the depth of Groupama FDJ United in that area. “I think that, intrinsically, Romain Gregoire has better qualities than me on efforts of three minutes and five minutes.”

Rather than fight for the same space, he is stepping aside. “I prefer to leave my place in the Ardennes to the younger riders so that they can try to get results.”

His own space is somewhere else. Long climbs. Long efforts. And one long build to July. Because when the Tour de France comes again, David Gaudu does not want to be watching. He wants to be there, in the mountains, in the group, waiting for the day when he really is in the form of his life.