David Gaudu comes under vicious attack from within his own team: 'Something has to change'

What on earth is going on with David Gaudu? The Frenchman from Groupama-FDJ was once the leading French hope in the Tour de France, with a fourth in the 2022 general classification. After a few strong years, however, he has completely disappeared from the radar, despite a brief resurgence at the 2025 Vuelta. This was short lived however, as the media turned against the climber after poor results. Now it seems his team is turning against him too.

Among other achievements, Gaudu has won three stages in the Vuelta a España, finished fourth in the Tour de France, and came third at the 2021 Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In his early years, the Frenchman was considered a prodigious talent, thanks to his overall victory in the 2016 Tour de l'Avenir. However, after an impressive breakthrough, Gaudu’s career remained somewhat inconsistent: he never quite managed to break through to the very top.

In recent years, the small, explosive climber has been struggling more and more. In 2021, he still finished 15th in the UCI world rankings, but for the past two years he hasn’t even been in the top 100. He currently ranks 499th on the list, with just 98 UCI points to his name. Recently, however, he achieved his best result of the year with a fifth-place finish at the Boucles de l'Aulne.

There, Gaudu finally felt like a cyclist again after a difficult period. “I had a fantastic time today. I haven’t been this fit in such a long time, and I really enjoyed myself,” he said afterward. “I felt strong, at my best.” But he didn’t want to get ahead of himself. “I don’t want to get too carried away. It’s just another race day. I have to keep working hard.”

It was a major boost for Gaudu, who surprised everyone last year in the Vuelta a España with a stage win on the third stage. He even wore the red jersey briefly the next day, but was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the race. It’s a perfect example of the frustrating inconsistency of the star rider, who is still only 29 years old but enjoys a privileged status on his team. And it seems the team has had enough of that.

According to sources at Cyclism'Actu, friction is building within the team due to the situation surrounding Gaudu, “whose salary is too high—he’s being paid too much given his results in recent years,” an anonymous source reports. The Groupama-FDJ team leader is reportedly one of the highest-paid French cyclists, but has long since failed to perform at the level required to justify that salary.

An unnamed teammate tells his story about Gaudu to *Le Parisien *. It’s no coincidence that his performances have been disappointing lately, the rider notes. “David is an irritating enigma. He doesn’t have the passion anymore, but he’s the only one who doesn’t realize it. And I can tell you that he’s getting less and less support within the team.” It’s clear that something has to change; otherwise, this story is going to have an unpleasant aftermath.

Will Gaudu be selected for the 2026 Tour de France? Find out by following our 'Tour de France start list' page for updates.