Tour de France: Gaudu, Pinot, Bardet... French climbers have mastered the cobblestones

A big sigh of relief.

This stage which frightened everyone, and especially the riders less used to the cobblestones, finally smiled on the small French riders.

David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ), Romain Bardet (DSM), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), or even Warren Barguil (Arkea)… All these climbers who are aiming for a podium, places of honor or mountain stages had everything to fear from this mini-Hell of the North between Lille and Arenberg.

All finally finished the stage in the peloton of around fifty riders, conceding only 1′04 in the breakaways and only 13 seconds in the end on Tadej Pogacar, the all-terrain Slovenian more than ever favorite of the Tour.

“I was very apprehensive about this stage, and in the end it's a great result, I didn't fall, I didn't have any problems.

If someone had told me that before, I would have signed up right away!

says David Gaudu, a smile lighting up his face covered in dust on arrival, when thanking his teammates “Gigi” (Kevin Geniets) or Quebecer Antoine Duchesne.

"They all gave 100%", salutes Gaudu, who also knew how to avoid the pitfalls.

“The main thing was to reach the finish line safe and sound”

“David is skilful, he knows how to ride a bike, recalls Marc Madiot, the boss of Groupama FDJ.

He doesn't have the size for this type of race, but he is well focused, well motivated, well supervised, well assisted, it's ok.

It's this teamwork that pleased Madiot: “I say hats off to Mr. Küng, but also to the whole team, it's remarkable.

Stefan Küng, the Swiss cobblestone specialist, took his Breton leader to the end.

Gaudu was even able to count on Thibaut Pinot in the final.

"When you see Thibaut Pinot get on the cobblestones and give you a kick, you think wow..."

The Franc-Comtois has indeed forced his nature and agreed to be shaken by the cobblestones of the North, for the good of the team.

“I suffered a fall, but in the end it was fine, says Pinot.

The important thing was that David stay in contact with the other leaders.

There are favorites that have been trapped.

And I'm here too to try to help others, even in a finale like this.

Even if I'm a little behind, it's not my style to let myself go.

I try to give everything until the end.

» Also dripping with dust, Thibaut Pinot even admits having had fun for the first time on the cobblestones: « After 2014 in the rain, 2015 with derailleur problems… Today was more fun!

»

Romain Bardet also experienced some setbacks in the last cobbled stages of the Tour, especially in 2018. But this time, the North smiled on him.

“At one point we found ourselves a little on the ground, but in the end we managed to come back, we rode a little with the Jumbos and there were no big gaps, breathed the DSM rider.

The main thing was to reach the finish line safe and sound.

»

Once is not custom, so everything turned out well for the French on the cobblestones.

“You have to have that bit of luck, we haven't always had it on the Tour, reminds David Gaudu.

The mechanical side also played a role, we have very good bikes for this kind of classics.

Luck, the team, the gear… Everything came together today”.

Hope it lasts.