Harrogate (United Kingdom) (AFP)
Romain Bardet will begin his 2020 program with the Tour Down Under in Australia, where he will be participating for the first time.
Auvergnat, who commented Sunday for Eurosport the world championship in Yorkshire, ended his season in August after the Tour de France.
If he announced his return to competition for next year, the leader of the AG2R La Mondiale team did not reveal anything about the broad outlines of his program, including his possible participation in the Giro or Tour de France. France.
"I will continue to play the general classification", only assured the French, without specifying the year with regard to the Great Loop.
Disappointed by his level of the Tour de France last July (15th in Paris), although he brought back the polka dot jersey of the mountain, he said to assume a questioning: "I failed in the objectives set but it does not call into question the project to succeed in the Tour de France. "
"It may be the year I put in the most money and was far from my past performances," he told Eurosport, "we made risky choices in preparation. a result, you have to get wet, I've done too much at times, and when I get involved in a project, it's hard to take a step back. "
"This does not call into question my belief that I will play a role (in the future) in the overall classification," said Bardet, who also plans to work on the track during the offseason and eyeing two major events. the next season, the Tokyo Olympics and the world championship in Martigny (Switzerland).
Second in the 2016 Tour de France and third the following year, the Haute-Loire rider won last year's silver medal at the Worlds behind Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.
© 2019 AFP