Romain Bardet is one of the favorites for the Giro d'Italia, having been very strong in the first week.
The Frenchman is currently third in the general classification, fourteen seconds behind the pink jersey.
The DSM rider will have to complete a very mountainous, high-flying third week to hope to win the Giro and offer France its first Grand Tour in 33 years, the work of Laurent Fignon, already in Italy.
And we started to shout, to encourage, to hope.
Sunday, on the steep slopes of the Blockhaus, a terrible climb of 13 km at more than 8%, a big hour from the softness of the edges of the Adriatic, Romain Bardet made France vibrate.
The one who has been hoping for ages now for a victory for one of her own in a Grand Tour.
The same one who, three years ago, had cried on the road to Tignes for the abandonment of Thibaut Pinot, betrayed by his body when we felt he was ready to parade with the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysées.
The wound has gradually closed, and it could be (almost) totally healed if Romain Bardet, third overall 14 seconds behind leader Juan Pedro Lopez, arrives triumphant in pink in the Verona arena on May 29.
We are surely getting a little carried away, but how not to dream when we see the form of the Auvergnat, able to pull off a well-made time trial during the first stage, to follow the train without problem on the flanks of Etna the following day, then to aspire to the stage victory at the top of Mont Blockhaus, five days later.
" I have pleasure "
And it's not the serenity displayed by the DSM rider during the rest day in Abruzzo that will bring down our blissful optimism.
“I appreciate that everything is going well, the state of mind is very good, the legs too, I am having fun, confided Romain Bardet, all smiles and relaxed, before going to take a little nap then to participate. at the team barbecue.
We always said we were coming for the general classification, but there is no pressure.
»
Did someone say rest day?
🍗🇮🇹 #Giro pic.twitter.com/pEjgsVDjJo
— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) May 16, 2022
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Especially since, like Bardet, the trend is rather coolness within the DSM team.
Thymen Arensman, for example, who "didn't want to gain too much weight during the barbecue", is also in the nails in the general standings.
But he has only one objective: to bring the Frenchman, against whom he competed in a few sprints during the rest day, to the top of the peaks: "I'm not here for the classification of the best young rider, but to help Romain .
I can also put pressure on others as I am well ranked.
If I attack, teams will have to react and that will necessarily help Romain.
»
“From Saturday, it will be on the block”
We will already have a first glimpse of the possible future rosé of the one who has already ridden twice on the Tour de France box this Tuesday.
Not that the peloton climbs the highest mountains of La Botte, far from it, but the days after a rest day are sometimes complicated for Bardet.
“He's a particularly enduring boy who likes repeated efforts, and the day off cuts him off a bit and sometimes plays tricks on him,” tells us his former teammate at AG2R, Jean-Christophe Péraud.
The next big deadlines will arrive this weekend: “Saturday's stage will be important [3,000 m of elevation gain], harder than the mountain one the next day, assures Bardet.
From Saturday, it will be on the block.
» A monstrous third week with six mountain stages on the program that hurt our legs just thinking about it.
“His weak point was perhaps the third week, explains former runner and sports director Eric Boyer.
But he's matured, a little bit strong, he doesn't have many racing days, so he has juice and reserves that could make the difference at the right time.
»
The DSM changed it
Before his victory in the Tour of the Alps, in front of riders like Pello Bilbao, Richie Porte or Mikel Landa, all present on the Giro, Romain Bardet, who joined the DSM in 2021 and extended his two-year contract on Friday, did not had run only fourteen days in 2022. “His new team restricts him a little on the fact of always wanting to run, to get back to it, always wanting to win in each race where we go out, details Péraud.
Romain is someone very determined, impatient and he has always had a tendency to do a lot, to add to it.
Now, the climber seems to have taken the necessary step back:
I experienced a lot on the Grand Tours, great joys and great disappointments.
There, we take the days a bit as they come, trying to do the best, but without taking my head.
»
The head, he will surely have time to take it on the day of the final time trial: 17 km to touch the Grail: “It's not much, but it's still not to be neglected, believes Boyer.
I wish him to take the start of the time trial with the pink jersey, so that he gets the performance of his life.
“” He will have to anticipate and be offensive on his playing field to scratch a little time and be calm on the day of the clock, assures Péraud for his part.
But he left well.
»
What impact would a victory in the Giro have?
On track for, finally, 33 years after Laurent Fignon, already on the Tour of Italy, a Frenchman to win a Grand Tour.
“The Giro is different from the Tour de France, but it would arouse such hope, hopes Eric Boyer.
That might be the step to take so that all French runners can say to themselves that it is possible.
It would be an exceptional momentum.
»
Jean-Christophe Péraud is a little more circumspect: “Sportingly, for the microcosm of French cycling, that would be a lot and very representative of a certain level.
But, for the general public, I don't think it would change much.
There's only one race that matters to them, it's the Tour de France.
“Yes, but as Thibaut Pinaut will be in yellow this summer on the Champs, everyone will find themselves there.
We are still at the time of year when we have the right to dream.
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