Romain Bardet takes first GC win in nine years: "It’s been a great week with the guys"

Romain Bardet has been long past his best results as a stage-racer, which saw him finish on the podium of the Tour de France twice, however his most prominent stage-race win came today as a result of his strong performances at the Tour of the Alps, which he conquered on the final day.

After four stages where he was very consistent in every finale, matching that of Pello Bilbao, today it was his time to make the decisive bid: “What can I say? It just felt like textbook cycling today, all of the guys rode amazingly well. We wanted to go all-out on that last climb to go for the GC, and the guys positioned us well," he said in a post-race interview. Whilst his compatriot Thibaut Pinot took the stage win up front, Bardet was in the peloton fighting a different battle.

With Pello Bilbao suffering a mechanical at the bottom of the final climb, DSM found themselves in a perfect situation, however it was their performance up it that dictated their overall win, as both Bardet and Thymen Arensman were able to distance all but one GC rival.

"We were up there with Thymen and I in a group of there which was a perfect situation for us and we just pushed to the finish. It was such a nice reward to also have the two of us on the final podium in the end. It’s been a great week with the guys!” he concluded. He arrived at the finish together with former teammate Michael Storer to take enough time on Bilbao to jump to first place in the overall.

His next step will be at the Giro d'Italia, but the pressure will be relatively off the Frenchman's shoulders after a very meaningful win.