There has been a lot of controversy within the cycling world about talented French climbers focusing Tour de France GC, often to the harm of their own goals and personal ambitions.
When this topic comes up, names of Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet usually cross your mind. Both combined finished on podium in Paris several times in their prime, but never really came close to winning the whole race.
After few years of struggle this lead their employers, traditional French teams to eventually recognize that change was on the menu. Marc Madiot switched his attention to young Breton David Gaudu, while AG2R found their GC ambitions in Austrian Felix Gall and Australian Ben O'Connor.
While Pinot stayed at FDJ to guide his successor towards brighter future and will retire at the end of 2023 after one of his best seasons in years, including 5th place and KOM jersey at Giro d'Italia, Bardet separated his way with AG2R at the end of 2020 in hopes of finding purpose with Dutch Team DSM.
Since then we've seen a bit different Bardet, who's been trying different schedules in order to find his perfect balance, and this won't change at upcoming Vuelta a Espana.
Romain Bardet who left Tour de France early in the third week with concussion will ride the final grand tour of 2023 with focus on stages rather than GC, Daniel Benson reports.
Read also
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
Loading
Romain Bardet, who won a stage at the Vuelta a Espana in 2021, will head back to the race later this month. He'll be in stage-hunting mode rather than targeting GC. @GcnRacing
Write a comment