David Gaudu forced to abandon Paris-Nice after Illness leaves him 'completely drained'

Gaudu struggled from the opening kilometers of Thursday’s stage and quickly began to lose contact with the main group. On the first climb of the day, the Côte de Lentilly, it became clear that something was wrong. A short time later he climbed off his bike and abandoned.

“The why, no,” said sports director Stéphane Goubert afterwards to DirectVelo when asked about the reason behind the withdrawal. “He wasn’t well. It was very sudden. It was the same picture as Ewen (Costiou). They really had nothing left at all. On the bike David was completely drained.”

Costiou also had a difficult day but managed to continue the race. The similar symptoms between the two riders have left the team wondering whether illness may be involved.

“We’ll wait to see the doctor before saying anything,” Goubert said. “But we knew yesterday’s stage would leave some traces. We didn’t think it would hit us like that and so quickly.”

There had been a small sign earlier in the morning. Gaudu woke up feeling unwell after a restless night.

“This morning he woke up with a sore throat after a bad night,” Goubert explained. “He was very closed off in the bus. But at the briefing we said that after stages like that you shouldn’t listen too much to your sensations, you have to fight. After a day like yesterday the body goes a little into standby. You have to fight to wake it up.”

The timing is particularly frustrating because the team believes Gaudu has been making progress in recent months. After a winter spent rebuilding his form, the 29-year-old French climber had begun to show encouraging signs again in this race.

“Yes, we can feel he is improving,” Goubert said. “But it’s clear he is coming from very far back. We never hid that from anyone. He works hard, very hard, to regain consistency. The level is there. He proved it yesterday and he proved it when he won a stage at the Vuelta not so long ago.”