“A small victory” for David Gaudu, second in Paris-Nice
“You are second in Paris-Nice, what is your assessment of this week?
It’s a small victory, a great result. It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to stand on the podium at Paris-Nice or in a stage race at World Tour level. We would have been told that from the start, we would have signed. The team was applied from the first day to this Sunday, passing through team time which showed that we had a very good collective, so a big thank you to the team for trusting me this week.
“I hung on to the top. There was not much to do, Pogacar was the strongest, congratulations to him”
Do you have any regrets about this last step ?
I didn’t have the best legs in the world, no the legs i had yesterday (SATURDAY), so when (Tadej) Pogacar left, I couldn’t go. I got on my train on the steep part because I was a little afraid of the attacks, I hung on to the top. There wasn’t much to do, Pogacar was the strongest, kudos to him. Me, I was not having as good a day as yesterday so there is nothing to regret, neither for this week, nor for today.
What did you learn during this Paris-Nice?
That some days maybe I can compete with the best, so I had to take the opportunities where I will have good legs. The Col de la Couillole yesterday (Saturday, 2nd)it was a very good memory, the Loge des Gardes too (2nd Wednesday), the team time, the shots where we throw the border… In fact, there are a lot of things that remain.
“I have a linear progression, I didn’t have a big jump or a big difference in progression, I progressed at my own pace”
Do you feel that you have reached a milestone?
I think I passed a course, yes. I align the mental strength, in which I progressed on the Tour last year (4th), to my 2021 physique. This mix of the two makes me progress. But I have a linear progression, I didn’t have big leaps or big difference in progression, I progressed at my own pace, little by little in the team, trying to add things year by year, that’s also what makes me manage to fill the gap more and more with the strongest, even if there’s still a big hole to fill. »
