'Relentless attacks' - Gaudu calls out French media as he begins 2026 rebuild

David Gaudu has described 2025 as the most difficult season of his career, admitting that he hit “rock bottom” during the campaign.

In an interview with L’Équipe, Gaudu explained that Groupama-FDJ United has imposed a change of coach upon him in a bid to iron out the inconsistency that has blighted him in recent seasons. Gaudu had been coached by David Han since he turned professional, but his training is now devised by Luca Festa, who has arrived at Groupama-FDJ United from Cofidis.

“I ride much longer but less fast,” Gaudu said of his new training regime. “I think it’s a good thing. It’s not easy because I've had a very close relationship with David Han since I turned pro; he was almost like a second father to me. But we both understood that the team’s decision to change coaches doesn’t change our relationship.”

The change has come about after Gaudu’s ill-starred 2025 season, where a crash forced him to abandon the Giro d’Italia and a subsequent lack of form saw him left out of the Tour de France. Although he recovered to win stage 3 of the Vuelta a España in Ceres and wear the red jersey, his GC challenge quickly evaporated, and he struggled through the rest of the race.

“It was the hardest season of my career, a real ordeal,” Gaudu said. “It started well in Oman, but then one disaster struck after another, to the point where I thought there was no point in going to the Tour de France in that condition... 

“We started preparing for the Vuelta. I had those three incredible days at the start, and then it was hell. I wondered what was happening, how it was possible to go from such highs to such lows... The team struggled to understand, and I struggled to trust them.”

The 29-year-old will hope that the new season marks something of a reboot as he searches for the form that carried him to fourth overall on the 2022 Tour, and he indicated that scoring top 10 finishes in WorldTour stage races would be a target in 2026.

“I want to get back to my best and find the consistency I’ve been searching for since 2021,” Gaudu said. “I know very well that at my level, I’m capable of amazing things. This year will be incredibly important for the team with the UCI points resetting. I know that we finished 17th last year partly because of me... I was a leader, and I didn’t do the job, so I want to reclaim my leadership role and lift the team.”

Although the Vuelta ended in disappointment, Gaudu was heartened by his early stage win. 

“A washed-up leader would never have won that stage on the Vuelta,” said Gaudu, who also decried what he described as “relentless attacks” from the media. “They went after me too hard. In France, a lot of people are ready to tear you down when you’re at rock bottom because they were jealous when you were successful.”

Even so, Gaudu tried to strike an upbeat note as he looked ahead to the new campaign. “I hit rock bottom this year, so I figure nothing worse could happen to me,” he said.