For the 32-year-old French climber, the Tour rendezvous is all the more obvious as there will be three stages this year in his Auvergne region, almost under his windows, including the one leading to Puy-de-Dôme, the summit mythical which will be climbed for the first time in 35 years this summer.
"I live at the foot of the Puy-de-Dôme, it will be one of the big attractions", underlined Bardet in the seaside resort of Calpe, where his team is in training camp.
Last year, the Frenchman made the Tour of Italy his priority for once.
In brilliant form, he left there to play for the podium or even victory, the first for a Frenchman in a grand tour since Laurent Jalabert on the Vuelta in 1995, but had to give up after falling ill.
He then finished sixth in the Tour de France, after the disqualification of Nairo Quintana, a result which did not entirely satisfy him because he had come above all to chase stages, he who has already raised his arms three times on the Grande Loop, in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 2015, Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc in 2016, and Peyragudes in 2017.
In 2023, it is clearly the general that he will aim for, as in the finest hours of AG2R, when he finished second in 2016 and third in 2017. To prepare for the Tour, he will notably participate in Paris-Nice at the beginning of March .
© 2023 AFP