About 40 kilometers from the finish on stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, David Gaudu crashed in the feed zone and was forced to abandon the race on Tuesday. The extent of the injuries as a result of the impact were unclear at the time.
Thursday, the Groupama-FDJ team announced on social media that “David Gaudu underwent surgery for a fracture at the base of the first metacarpal.”
The team also stated that they would share further updates on his recovery timeline in the future.
It was the third crash in the past 15 days for the French rider.
“Some riders braked hard in front of him, and he was hit from behind,” said directeur sportif Thierry Bricaud on the day of the crash in a team release. “He’s been having a really bad period for two weeks. He was there to see what his winter work would have brought, to start a momentum, and this is a new setback."
It remains uncertain how his injury will affect his debut at the Giro d’Italia, which is less than two months away. Earlier this year, he told L’Équipe that his goal was to secure a top-five finish—or even a spot on the podium. After that, he intended to tackle the Tour de France where he placed fourth in 2022 and ninth in 2023.
This latest crash came three days after he fell twice at Strade Bianche, the first time with a group of around 20 riders. After getting a new bike, he crashed a second time one kilometre later and abandoned the Italian Spring Classic.
The 28-year-old started the year with a stage win and third overall at Tour of Oman, before he was sidelined by an unlucky crash caused by an animal during a training ride. He had to skip the Classic Var and the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes to recover from “muscle injury to the gluteus medius”, as reported by his team.
