David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) knows that his hold on the yellow jersey at the Volta ao Algarve after winning stage 2 on the Alto da Fóia is a temporary one.
A shade over twenty miles lie between the start and finish of Saturday's stage 4 time trial, and just one second separates the Frenchman in the overall standings from rouleurs like Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl). Something has to give.
"I'll have the yellow jersey on my back for the time trial, but I know I won't keep it," Gaudu admitted when he took a seat by the podium in Faro on Friday afternoon. "I only have one second of a lead, so if I keep it, it would be a bit of an exploit. But I'll still look to enjoy the day."
There are, one imagines, more agreeable ways to enjoy an afternoon on the Algarve coast, but Gaudu will look to chart his progress against the watch on the road to Tavira with an eye to tests later in the year, most notably the 40-kilometre time trial on the penultimate day of the Tour de France.
The Breton, who placed 13th overall in 2021, is this year set to line out as part of triumvirate with Thibaut Pinot and new arrival Michael Storer.
"I've worked a lot on my time trialling these last months since I started back training," Gaudua said. "I'm keen to see how that plays out on Saturday. I can't say now if I'll lose a minute, or a minute and thirty seconds, or two minutes. I really don't know.
"I'll just try to do a steady time trial and show that I've progressed with my position. The time loss will be almost incidental, so to speak, so long as I'm happy with my own time trial."
Gaudu's teammate Stefan Küng, so impressive in teeing up his stage win on the Alto da Fóia on Thursday, is perhaps the favourite to win the time trial in Tavira on Saturday. Regardless of whether he limits his losses sufficiently to stay in the hunt for final overall victory, meanwhile, Gaudu will have another chance to shine on Sunday's concluding summit finish at Alto do Malhão.
"The race is already a success with the stage win," said Gaudu. "And the last stage suits me a little better than [Alto da Fóia.] For the GC, it will probably be difficult, but we'll see. I'll just try to do the best time trial possible to show off the work I did this winter."
Gaudu took possession of the overall lead thanks to that victory atop the Alto da Fóia on Thursday, when he laid down a rasping sprint to claim the summit ahead of Samuele Battistella (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers).
Evenepoel, whose victory pose from two years ago is now captured in a statue near the finish line, was favoured to deliver another show of force in the Serra de Monchique, but instead it was Gaudu who produced the decisive acceleration.
"The sprint was a lactic effort, and I thought about all the efforts I did like that in the last training camp," said Gaudu, who chalked up a February victory for the second time in as many seasons after his win at the Faun-Ardèche Classic last year.
"For mid-February, my state of form is good. The objective wasn't necessarily to win here, but to be good for Paris-Nice, because I want to do well there."
