A two-time podium finisher at the Tour de France, Romain Bardet was once the French's big hope to end their long Yellow Jersey wait. in recent years however he has found his love the cycling's most famous race waning, until now.
Now fully refreshed, refocused and back on the quest for the Maillot Jaune, Bardet is confident 2023 will see him regain the form that once saw him considered as Chris Froome's biggest challenger. "Back in the day, when it was Team Sky, for sure they were super strong and I will not say that Sky in 2016 and 2017 were weaker than Jumbo-Visma today, but nowadays you not only have Jumbo, but also UAE and Ineos and so on. There's much more density at the top," Bardet revealed in a press conference.
"We also have super talents, like Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, who can make the race on their own," the Frenchman continues. "When Wiggins won the Tour, when Froome won the Tour, they really relied on their team to build their success, but now there are guys who can race around with some crazy attacks because they're so strong."
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Assessing how he thinks his 2023 Tour attempt will go, Bardet has a goal in mind, emulate Geraint Thomas's brave ride at the 2022 Tour de France. "I think his performance was brilliant," Bardet said on Tuesday. "He was super fit, super lean, really focused on his own race, just giving his best every day. For a guy who already won the Tour, to really fight when the other two guys went, when he was getting dropped every time... he was just like the last survivor of the fight. It was a really inspiring performance to see."
Looking at how his cycling career and the Tour de France have been so intertwined, Bardet is gracious in revealing how much the race has given him. "I'm thankful for what it has brought to me, what I've learned from all my experiences in the Tour, good and bad," the Team DSM leader says. "Now I go to the Tour with the same mindset as I went to the Giro last year. I try to take it as a normal race and that's the sort of mentality I've been learning in this team. I mainly focus on the process - not about the consequences that a bad result can have on your life."
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