David Gaudu wore a broad smile when he entered the mixed zone after the presentation of the 2023 Tour de France route on Thursday, and with good reason. The course features its lowest quota of time trialling kilometres since the discipline was first included in the Tour in 1934.
"It's going to be a Tour de France for pure climbers, the rouleurs are going to be at less of an advantage," said Gaudu, who placed fourth overall this year.
"It's maybe the route that I've liked the most since I started riding the Tour: a lot of mountains and an uphill time trial."
The course features summit finishes at Cauterets, the Puy de Dôme, the Grand Colombier and Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, though Gaudu confessed that his eye was initially drawn to the stage 16 time trial from Passy to Combloux.
The 22km course is not quite a mountain test, but it features enough climbing – including the Côte de Domancy, site of Bernard Hinault's 1980s Worlds exhibition – to mitigate some of its difficulty for Gaudu.
"The time trial will weigh on the race, but this will penalise me less than a completely flat 22km time trial," he said.
Elsewhere, Gaudu picked out the stage 9 finish up the Puy de Dôme, back on the course for the first time since 1938, as a highlight – "It will be a nice homage to Raymond Poulidor" – but he reckoned that that most demanding day would come on stage 17, which brings the Tour over the Col de la Loze to Courchevel.
"Obviously, there's the stage with 5,000m of altitude gain, I don't think I've ever done that in my life. That will be legendary, with the climb over the Col de la Loze," said Gaudu.
"The start in Bilbao will be a big festival, I know from racing in the Basque Country that they know how to welcome a race there. The Pyrenees come early and there will be an explosive stage in the Vosges on the last weekend."
Gaudu acknowledged that the route of the Tour "reinforced the idea of going back there next year," though, in truth, the 26-year-old was never likely to miss La Grande Boucle. He has raced the Tour every season since 2018, and he took a leap forward last July when a string of consistent displays carried him to fourth overall in Paris.
"It's given me desire, and confidence too, because I've shown I can be consistent over three weeks," Gaudu said.
"Now I have to be stay consistent and also get stronger again. In any case, I won't be happy to be fourth on the Tour again, because you go to a race looking to raise your objectives from the previous one. If I go to the Tour de France next year, it will obviously be to aim for the podium."
