500 metres were missing in the end. 500 metres to the last big goal, a stage win at the Giro d'Italia. Romain Bardet has achieved a great deal in his career. But he wants even more. On the 13th stage, the pro from Team Picnic-PostNL had his last big goal in sight. On the last descent of the day, he had a feeling that something might be possible when the peloton rolled downhill somewhat cautiously around nine kilometres before the finish line. He attacked, the Czech Matthias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) followed. "When I saw a chance in the finale, I just went for it," he said at the finish. Bardet had tried once again, once again in vain. On the final climb, he rode to the side after looking back - 500 metres before the finish line. After 180 kilometres of hard work that day. The speeding peloton was too close - Mads Pedersen sprinted to his fourth stage win of the race. Tour of Italy. The story of Romain Bardet is also a story of eternal attempts, of frequent failures and relatively rare successes.
Many attempts, often narrowly missed
The 34-year-old Frenchman is one of the outstanding cyclists of his generation. He has finished second and third in the Tour de France, runner-up in the world championships and second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But he has also achieved four stage wins in the Tour and one in the Tour of Spain. Now the 34-year-old Frenchman is contesting his last really big stage race, the Giro d'Italia. He is still missing a victory there. It would mean joining the illustrious circle of cyclists who have won a stage in all three major national tours. The list includes 112 names (Status at the time of going to press) - not very many in view of the almost 100-year history of the three most important multi-day races.
Pressure at the Tour, love at the Giro?
He has already finished with the Tour de France. He had something of a love-hate relationship with the Grande Boucle. The race in Bardet's home country is the big goal of all cyclists, the biggest stage, but it also causes the greatest pressure. Last year, Bardet achieved the last, self-imposed major goal there - in Italy of all places: after an attack alongside his Dutch team-mate Frank van den Broek, he won the opening stage to Rimini and captured the yellow jersey for the first time in his career - the piece of cloth that the French had hoped for so long that Bardet would be able to wear to Paris, right to the end. The hopeful himself no longer had this hope - the 2022 race was his last chance to be at the top of the overall standings, he said recently. "It's a bit different than before, when I was really aiming for the overall classification. Now I pick out individual days on which I want to give 105 per cent. On other days I try to recover," says Bardet.
You only ride well with your heart, says Bardet
Bardet, who has always had a mind of his own, has decided on a kind of labour of love at the end - he is courting Italy, the Giro and hopes that the Corsa Rosa will give in to his courtship after one last big success. "The Tour de France is very controlled, it's not so easy to stand out there. The Giro is a race that offers more opportunities for attackers, a much more open race," the Frenchman once analysed. At his long-standing team AG2R, he had to fight to finally be allowed to prioritise the Giro over the Tour. It had already been agreed for the 2020 season - then came the pandemic. It was only when he moved to the Netherlands to join the predecessor of the current Picnic-PostNL team for the 2021 season that he was given the chance to ride the Giro. "The people here are very passionate. They know every rider by name," he said before his final appearance in Italy.
One last hunt for a stage win in the Alps
Now he is taking part for the fourth time. Before the start, he announced that he wanted to ride aggressively, chase stages and follow his racing instinct. "I ride with my heart," he likes to say. He tried again and again for the first two weeks. One week remains to give something back to Italy and the Tifosi. "It's the only race on the World Tour calendar where I haven't shown myself the way I'd like to," he said, explaining his decision to bid adieu to a Grand Tour in Italy. Before the rest day, ahead of the final week in the high mountains, he said: "I have to recover and from Tuesday (27 May), we have to pick out the decisive moments for me. There are still a few brutal stages." It has to be said: Bardet likes it when the routes are brutally difficult - the competition should be warned.
Closing point: The Tour of the Dauphiné in June
If he doesn't manage a final victory in Italy, the only thing left for further successes will be his farewell lap. His last race will be the Critérium du Dauphiné. The stage race will also pass through his home region of Auvergne from 8 to 15 June 2025. One stage starts in his hometown of Brioude, where he still lives with his family. The route planners from race organiser ASO have planned a route for the third stage that could suit Bardet. Right on the outskirts of Brioude, there is a long uphill section. An opportunity for an attack "à la pedale", as they say in cycling jargon, if pure strength prevails. One thing is certain: Bardet will try if he can. Until the end. Until 15 June 2025, the final stage of the Dauphiné.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
