David Gaudu outsprinting Mads Pedersen and Jonas Vingegaard to victory on stage 3 of the Vuelta a España was a weird enough sight on its own, but the diminutive Frenchman mixing it with the fast men on stage 4 in search of bonus seconds on the final bunch sprint was an even more of a rarity.
But when you consider that his first overall lead at a Grand Tour and the Vuelta's red jersey was on the line, it was a risk worth taking for Gaudu, whose valiant ride amid the shoulders and elbows of a bunch earned him enough of a positional gain after the first four stages to overtake Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
They remain on the same time at the top of the rankings, but in Figueres on Wednesday, it will be Gaudu who dons the iconic maillot rojo for Groupama FDJ, with great pride and having snapped up his final shot at wearing red in this year's race. But he certainly won't be mixing it in any more bunch sprints, knowing his place lies with the uphill roads.
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"It's the first and last time I'm going there because... it's not my place," he told Eurosport at the finish line, letting out a smile.
"For sure, [going for red] was in my mind this morning, but I don't really know if I fight for position in the bunch sprint because it is very, very dangerous. But with the feeling I had at the finish, I just went for it. The team did an incredible job. I just disconnected my body and went full to the finish – incredible."
Gaudu needed to finish just nine places ahead of Vingegaard at the line in Voiron, with 25th compared to the Dane's 42nd enough to do the job. Gaudu had already made his intentions clear by going for the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Noyarey, but lacked the speed to challenge Pedersen and Israel-Premier Tech's two fast men. This, too, was a move on instinct from Gaudu.
"The team did a lead-out because we were in front of the bunch. Then I just followed the wheels, but I couldn't arrive to win the bonus seconds," said Gaudu. "But I talked on the radio after that, saying 'we can do it at the finish line'. Then the team did an amazing job, and this jersey is for them too, so thank you to all of them."
It was also special for Gaudu, who missed his home Tour de France this season after a lacklustre Giro d'Italia appearance, as the fourth stage of the Vuelta finished in his native France, and he was unable to hide his wide grin on the podium as he accepted red – the 27th French rider to do so at the Vuelta.
"When I was on the podium, it was incredible, with the French fans," he said.
"It's a bit crazy because when I didn't do a good Giro d'Italia, I didn't go to the Tour de France – one of the best races in the world – and I take the leader's jersey in France. It's just incredible and one of the best moments of my career."
The man he took the jersey off, Vingegaard, was unfazed by the change in leadership of the Vuelta, with the added media duties of wearing red and the need to wear the organisers' provided skinsuit in the team time trial tomorrow likely paying into his satisfaction at ceding red.
"It was a perfect day for our team. Jonas came through the stage really well. Compliments to the whole team. They did an excellent job bringing our leader to the line safely," said Visma-Lease a Bike DS Jesper Mørkøv, who looked ahead to the team time trial.
"We’re happy with today’s strong performance. Tomorrow, the next challenge awaits us. We’re looking forward to it."
On paper, Vingegaard's Visma team are considerably stronger across the board at TTTs than Gaudu's Groupama-FDJ train – despite the presence of Stefan Küng and Remí Cavagna – but Gaudu didn't fret at the likely possibility of losing it. He's already made this Vuelta a success, with anything else a bonus.
"We are with seven after unfortunately losing Guillame [Martin]. We worked a lot on it in the December team time trial camp, and again at the training camp in Tignes in July. Then, finally, the week before the Vuelta," said Gaudu.
"We have a strong team for the team time trial. If we did or didn't get the jersey, tomorrow will be the same – we will just push and do the best TTT possible, and we'll see what happens when we cross the line."
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