Romain Bardet shows improved form with late attack in Giro d'Italia stage 6: "Hopefully from now we continue to go upwards"

A highly anticipated gravel stage in Tuscany had a relatively boring outcome, with Romain Bardet being the only GC contender brave enough to attack on the ramp just ahead of finish city, but the others remained attentive and didn't let the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rider grab any precious seconds into overall classification.

"It was a good day. I’m starting to feel better and more healthy so it looks like my Giro is finally starting. We want to approach the race on the attack and on the offensive," Bardet declared in press communication.

"I had some good support from the guys throughout the day and I really enjoy riding on the white roads, so wanted to make the most of today and go on the attack in the final. I never lost the confidence and knew that once that my problem was fixed then we would be back in the race, so hopefully from now we continue to go upwards."

For Bardet, the first week of Giro d'Italia as far has been a mix of struggling and trying to find the optimal form after losing more than two minutes in the opening two stages. However now it seems he has found the legs that got him second place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege less than three weeks ago.