Romain Bardet reflects on missed opportunities as retirement looms: "My biggest frustration was that I didn’t focus on winning a Grand Tour besides the Tour de France sooner"
Cycling
In 2025, Romain Bardet embarks on the few months of his professional cycling career. Ahead of his finale at the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine though, the Frenchman of Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL has been reflecting on his career in the peloton.
One the great hope of French cycling, Bardet seemed as likely as anyone to end the wait for a home Tour de France winner in the mid-2010s, finishing runner-up to Chris Froome at the 2016 edition and then adding a 3rd overall to his palmares in 2017. A Grand Tour victory never fully materialised for Bardet though, and he admits he has a regret about focusing too much on the Tour de France during his peak GC years.
"My biggest frustration was that I didn’t focus on winning another Grand Tour besides the Tour de France sooner," Bardet explains in conversation with Rouleur. "After I finished second in the 2016 Tour and third in the 2017 Tour, I should have focused on the Giro or the Vuelta. In 2018 or 2019 I should have reoriented my focus on another Grand Tour, either to win or at least finish on the podium. That is the only regret I have, looking back on my career."
Although Bardet did eventually switch to the other Grand Tours, placing in the top 10 of the Giro d'Italia in 2021 and 2024, as mentioned an overall victory didn't happen. "For years I was a rider who rode with the goal of winning a Grand Tour and I know that is no longer possible. Today I must make even more sacrifices than before, and to be honest, I don’t even think I can finish on the podium of a Grand Tour," he admits honestly, explaining the decision to call it a day. "I think 2022 was pretty much my last opportunity for such a result. As a result, there comes a point when the scale is tipped on the wrong side, and it just is not worth making so many sacrifices for fewer results. I have lost the grinta to give everything to finish just top ten. I’m 33 years old, and I think I have had a very, very good season. So, for me to stop now is really just a dream scenario."
"I really don’t know what I will do when I retire. I have several ideas, but to be honest, it is too early. My big dream is to start my own team with a different model and different values, but really it is too early to even talk about that. First I think it is important for me to take some time and step back a bit. One thing is certain, I will want to do it with the same energy and drive I always had throughout my career," he concludes. "Riding will always be part of my life. I really can’t see a time when I won’t ride my bike. Perhaps there will be periods where I simply won’t have the time to ride a lot, and might have to replace it with running, for example, but cycling will always be part of my life."
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