"Frankly, I don’t know where I could have gained more time" - David Gaudu reflects on breakthrough Tour de France performance

David Gaudu has in the past hinted towards becoming the next French Grand Tour contender, and at this Tour de France he's shown the climbing prowess and the consistency that he was yet to show in the past, on his way to an impressive fourth place in a remarkably hard Tour.

At the end of stage 18, he ascended to fourth place in the overall classification. “My fight today wasn’t with Pogačar, Vingegaard or Thomas. It was Nairo and the others," he explained. "The hardest thing was dropping Nairo and I just had to give everything. You have days where things go very well, and today was like that".

After surviving the treacherous first week and the cobbled stages, the soaring heat, the back-to-back mountain stages, altitude and colossal mountain raid on two occasions, Gaudu found himself close to the podium. With the support of the likes of Stefan Küng, Valentin Madouas, Michael Storer and Thibaut Pinot, the 25-year old never seemed isolated throughout the race, and had the legs to complete a strong collective performance throughout the three weeks.

“Frankly, I don’t know where I could have gained more time... I think I’d have taken fourth place at the start of the Tour. Some people say fourth, fifth or sixth here doesn’t mean so much, but I think they don’t realize the effort, the intensity and the high level that you must have," he argued.

The Tour is not yet over, but his 2:30-minute gap to Nairo Quintana should be sufficient to hold on to his fourth place, a performance that consolidates him as a podium contender for future Grand Tours.

“I’m proud to currently be fourth. There’s still tomorrow and the time trial. Two more days to stay focused because anything can still happen," he concluded.