From our special correspondent in L’Alpe d’Huez (Isère),
When we saw Romain Bardet cross the line with an extremely marked face, Thursday evening in L’Alpe d’Huez, before quickly leaning against a race vehicle, staring into space, we had a time imagined being ejected from the Top 10 of the Tour de France 2022. But not at all, despite “a heat stroke” suffered in the middle of the terrible Iséroise ascent to the 21 bends, the best Frenchman of this first half of the Tour only conceded 19 seconds on the three favorites, Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Geraint Thomas, placing themselves in an honest 11th place.
A lesser evil as the 31-year-old Auvergnat suddenly suffered, as if struck down by the deafening noise of the inevitable turn of the Dutch. “I felt the heat invading me and I had to slow down, he explains after coming to his senses. I started having chills and my pulse was racing in my temples. So I preferred to take my rhythm so as not to explode completely. It didn’t play out much because they weren’t going up very quickly in front. Maybe I should have positioned myself a little better. »
“You have to know how to round your back”
It must be said that like Tadej Pogacar, Romain Bardet cannot count on many people, within his Team DSM, to preserve his chances in the general. His best-performing teammate on Thursday, Australian Christopher Hamilton, finished 40th 15 minutes behind stage winner Thomas Pidcock. “That’s also the Tour de France: on days when you’re less well, you have to know how to keep your back round”, notes Romain Bardet. Brilliant the day before during the epic Albertville-Col du Granon stage, it delivered a real blackboard at this level.
But given the small gaps at the top of the general classification, the former AG2R rider dropped his second place in the operation to find himself at the foot of the podium, in favor of Tadej Pogacar and Geraint Thomas. As it seemed written that this July 14 would not smile on the French, like a Thibaut Pinot in the hard (20th at 7’29 ”), and especially a Warren Barguil (103rd at 28’58 ‘ ‘) injured in the hip and shoulder after a heavy fall in the descent of the Col de la Croix de Fer, David Gaudu also had the head of the bad days.
David Gaudu’s “good feelings” in the third week
“It was hard with this heat, says the Groupama-FDJ rider, 13th at 54 seconds from Jonas Vingegaard at the finish of this 12th stage. But damn, it sucks, I don’t trust myself and I’m afraid of exploding. So I’m going up at my own pace when maybe I can hook them in front. I’m disappointed because I’ve had this lack of self-confidence ever since. the last stage of the Dauphiné where I exploded. “On June 12, David Gaudu had indeed suffered a terrible outburst from the start of the climb to the Solaison plateau (Haute-Savoie), when he was aiming for a place on the podium of the event. That day, he finished 7’27” from a certain Jonas Vingegaard. A year earlier, in Mont Ventoux, he had already experienced a similar misadventure on the Tour de France.
This Friday, starting from Bourg-d’Oisans, the Breton will still be 7th overall, admittedly now a little dropped by the members of the podium, but with a serious margin on 8th (Thomas Pidcock is 3’32 ” from him). It’s up to him to prove that at 25, this team leader costume isn’t too big. “We missed the boat this Thursday but we are only at the 12th stage, positive David Gaudu. And then generally, I have good feelings in the third week so we won’t give in to panic. Confidence will come back on its own. » Mea culpaFrench friends, our 14-July subject at 20 minutes got the better of your beautiful dynamic.