29/12/2023

"With Romain Bardet, we’ll target stage wins" - Warren Barguil 'really excited' for 2024 as he returns to Team DSM-Firmenich Post NL

Six years after departing the then-Team Sunweb, Warren Barguil returns to the team, now named Team DSM-Firmenich Post NL a different, more experienced rider, but no less hungry for success.

“It’s been a long time, six years, but now I’m back with the team. For sure, I’m a different rider and person. I’m older, I’m married and have two kids, so it’s a different perspective that I arrive here with,” Barguil has told GCN recently. “It’s not that different on the team since I left. It’s still the same. Everything is planned, everything is clear and you know where you need to go. The team has grown a lot, and things have become but it’s still the same feeling here.”

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Winning the King at the Mountains at the Tour de France in 2017 along with a pair of stage wins, much was expected of Barguil. Leaving Sunweb to curiously drop down to continental level with Arkea however, it's fair to say that the now 32-year-old Frenchman has failed to live up to the expectations the 2017 Tour de France set for him.

Maybe a return to familiar surroundings can reignite his career. “I know what I can bring to the team, especially with my experience and I hope to help the young riders as much as possible,” he insists. “What’s nice is that a lot of the young riders here have come up from the development team so they really know how the team works. It makes a lot of things easier when it comes to planning and racing."

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So what can we expect from Barguil in 2024? “For my objectives, we still need to discuss things with each other between me, the sports director and my coach. I want to reach a good level at some races and then be a helper at other races," he previews. "But I don’t think I’m a road captain, not yet. The boss, Iwan Spekenbrink brought me here for results, not just for a captain role."

"I’m rooming with Romain Bardet here and I think that we can have some nice results together," Barguil concludes. "I’ll go more for the Classics than the Grand Tours, and then with Romain, we’ll target stage wins in the three-week races. I’m really looking forward to next season.”