Frenchman Romain Bardet, second in the Tour de France 2016 and third the following year, has signed up for two years with the Sunweb team starting next season, the German team announced on Monday in a statement. The 29-year-old climber is scheduled to compete in a last Tour de France with his lifelong team AG2R La Mondiale from August 29.
"At Team Sunweb, I have the opportunity to run without any particular expectations or specific race to target", explained Bardet, who has repeatedly expressed his weariness and his need for change after a disappointing 2019 Tour despite a polka dot jersey reported to Paris.
Specialist in the Tour de France, but also in one-day races
At the end of his contract after nine years with AG2R - La Mondiale, which at the same time announced the recruitment of Belgian Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet on Monday, the French courier was initially due to skip the Tour de France this season and aim for the Giro d'Italia before the pandemic disrupts the cycling calendar.
His second place on the Grande Boucle behind Chris Froome in 2016 and his podium the following year raised hopes of seeing him become the first French winner of the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985. But this cerebral climber also cultivates a love for the races of a day where he missed prestigious success several times: vice-world champion in Innsbruck in 2018, 3rd in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège monument and second in the neoclassical Strade Bianche the same year .
Sunweb, at the forefront against doping
"With him, we are strengthening our panel of options in the finals and tactically multiplying the scenarios to try to win. It will be hard work, with classics in the first part of the season, and then we will evaluate and plan the sequel, including by deciding which grand tour to tackle, with what objectives, ”said Sunweb team manager Iwan Spekenbrink.
The German team is a member of the Movement for Credible Cycling, an association bringing together leading anti-doping teams. An argument that Romain Bardet also put forward to explain his choice to join Sunweb.