Grupama-FDJ will field Tour de France contender Thibaut Pinot in the Criterium du Dauphiné, but key deputy David Gaudoux will miss the Tour de France preparation race due to a digestive illness, the team reports.

"We will have a very solid team to continue the good work done last week on the Route d'Occitanie in the south of France," sport director Philippe Maudouy posted on social media Monday.

"The only downside is the loss of David Gaudoux, whose digestive problems have delayed his preparation for the Tour," he said.

Gaudet will also be team leader for the Vuelta a España scheduled for October, but is eager to recover from his illness in order to be on the start line with Pinot for the Tour de France in Nice on August 29.

Pinot finished fourth overall in last week's Route d'Occitanie, 37 seconds behind winner Egan Bernal, and the 2019 Tour de France champion is 19 seconds behind Team Ineos teammate Pavel Sivakov, with Astana's Alexandre Vlasov another four seconds back on the podium The winner was Team Ineos teammate Pavel Sivakov by 19 seconds.

For Pinot, it was his first race back since the closure of Pro Cycling due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but as Sportif Director Maudouy noted, it was an encouraging sign of the Frenchman's development ahead of both the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France. As Sportif director Maudouy pointed out, this was an encouraging sign of the Frenchman's growth ahead of both the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.

"I'm concentrating on taking the races one by one," he said. The Dauphiné is one of the biggest races of the season, so of course I want to have a strong showing there.

The 30-year-old Pinot was forced to abandon last year's Tour de France due to a thigh injury and was fifth overall in Paris two days before the finish.

Pinot will be joined at this week's Dauphiné, which starts Wednesday in Clermont-Ferrand and runs through Sunday (August 12-16), by Bernal, Team Ineos teammates Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome (2018 Tour champion and Tour 4 winner, respectively ), and the Jumbo-Visma trio of Steven Kruijswijk, Tom Dumoulin, and Primoz Roglic will once again face off.

Groupama-FDJ in the 2020 Criterium du Dauphiné: Bruno Almirail, Antoine Duchenne, Stephane Kühn, Mathieu Ladanyus, Valentin Maduas, Thibaut Pinot, Sebastian Reichenbach