Romain Bardet finds new passion in gravel and reaches top-10 in his debut race

Romain Bardet wrapped up his successful professional road career at the Critérium du Dauphiné two months ago. Since then, we haven't heard much of the French star, but now it seems clear that the 34-year-old is not yet ready to hang up his racing career for good. His new passion? Gravel.

The Frenchman completed his first gravel race this Saturday, finishing 10th in a UCI stage of the Gravel Grit'n Grind in Sweden, 40 seconds behind Dutch winner Jordan Habets after 146km of racing. This result should be more than enough to qualify for the Gravel World Championships later this year.

The now former rider of Team Picnic PostNL was seen sporting his old team colours as well as equipment, suggesting that an agreement has been reached between the two parties to continue collaboration at least till the end of this year.