The master and mentor – Romain Bardet prepares for his Grand Tour farewell at the Giro d'Italia

Roman Bardet is counting down the weeks and days.

The Frenchman's professional career will end on Sunday, June 15, at the Critérium du Dauphiné, with the Giro d'Italia the final Grand Tour of his illustrious career. At 34 and after 14 seasons as a professional, Bardet has decided his time is up.

Bardet could and perhaps should have chosen to end his career at the Tour de France in July, signing off in style on home roads and recalling his podium places, his attacking style, and especially his emotional 2024 stage win in Rimini, which gave him the yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

Yet true to character, Bardet has decided the Giro d'Italia will be his 18th and final Grand Tour of his career. The Critérium du Dauphiné will be his last dance on home roads before he enjoys the Tour de France and the sport as a fan from the roadside, and perhaps eventually a management role.

He is no longer interested in racing with Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vinegaard and other Tour contenders, preferring to mentor his younger teammates and pass on his Grand Tour team leadership skills to Max Poole, Frank van den Broek, Oscar Onley and Chris Hamilton.

"I feel I've achieved everything I could in the Tour, especially after wearing the yellow jersey last year," Bardet explains to Cyclingnews in an exclusive interview published as the days count down to the start of the Corsa Rosa.    

"I have some really nice memories from the Tour; they're the highlights of my career, so it's a special race for me.

"That's also why I just don't want to be there riding around as a farewell race this year. I never wanted to do the Tour just to be on the start line, and not really being an actor of the race is not my style. The Tour is too hard for that.

"I'm happy the 2024 Tour was my last. Now I've let it go. It's time to make room for other riders on the team and let some new energy in."

Bardet has calculated that the final months of his career will include nine weeks away from his family and home in the Massif Central area of France. They spent time together at a recent altitude camp and will surely visit him at the Giro and then the Dauphiné, but Bardet is counting down the days he has to eat, sleep, rest and repeat.  

His time as a team leader and mentor is also almost over. Bardet only agreed to race in 2025 so that he could generously share his knowledge with his young teammates on the road to the Giro d'Italia.

Picnic PostNL are desperate to score UCI ranking points to avoid relegation from the WorldTour in 2026, but Bardet will not race on to chase UCI points. He quietly hopes a good team performance in the Giro will help secure the Dutch team's future.    

"It was the agreement team manager Iwan Spekenbrink agreed back in 2023," Bardet reveals to Cyclingnews.  

"For me, the key thing for 2025 was to be around the young guys for a final time. I'm still ambitious for the Giro, but I also want to mentor them and to train together. I'm not trying to teach them anything special but just to be there for them."  

Britain's Max Poole was unable to ride the Giro or Tour with Bardet in 2024 due to injury but will line up in Albania alongside Bardet, despite a disrupted spring due to a fractured collarbone at Strade Bianche.

"Romain is really motivated for the Giro, I'm really motivated to go there with him. It will be a nice race and I'll be there riding with him," Poole tells Cyclingnews with natural deference.

"We race a lot together and also we spend a lot of time together. We have a good relationship, on and off the bike. It's really nice. He's top, he's mega.

"Obviously, he's been around a lot and he has a lot of experience, and he's still in really good shape, maybe even the best shape he's been in. To see that from a guy who knows he's finishing soon, it's really motivating. I think it really boosts the team as well, it's just really good to be around him."

'My advice is to enjoy every moment'

Bardet is known as one of the most experienced, most balanced and most intelligent riders in the peloton. His answers during interviews are carefully considered, and so we decided to publish the key parts in a question-and-answer format to let Bardet's thoughts emerge at their best.    

Cyclingnews: Speaking to Max Poole, it seems clear that the Giro is not just a last dance but a serious objective, one you prepared scrupulously for. What are your hopes and ambitions for the Giro, the final Grand Tour of your career?  

Romain Bardet: I will try to get 100% ready, that's my first goal, then we'll see what happens.

I'll have spent almost nine weeks away leading up to the Giro. I like the training, I like pushing myself, but being away so much and sacrificing so much is hard to do. Knowing it's the last time makes it easier. Now I can see the end, and that's nice.

It's a bit ambitious to do both the Giro and the Dauphiné, with the Tour of the Alps before it, too. The Dauphiné could work really well and be an enjoyable farewell or might not completely shit… I'll take whatever happens. I hope to feel good and be able to compete for one last stage win.

Cyclingnews: You will be 35 in November and have raced for 14 seasons. You finished on the Tour de France podium in 2016 and 2017, won the mountains competition in 2019 and then finally wore the yellow jersey last year. You've had a long and successful career, often as a French Tour de France hope. Do you feel old or do your teammates help keep you feeling young?

RB: They definitely keep me young, even if I don't understand everything they do or say.

I don't feel physically tired, but it's mentally hard to understand and accept that I won't be able to achieve more than what I've already achieved in the past. For guys like Max, Oscar, Frank and Chris, they know everything is still possible for them, their careers are still ahead of them, there to be grasped.  

Cyclingnews: You don't seem stuck in the past. You're not complaining about modern cycling like some riders close to retirement do. Why is that?

RB: It's a choice to be here. No one asked me to still be here. It's a privilege to be in this team, to decide where I race and when and how I want to stop.

Would I like to be 21 again, but in this modern cycling era? Absolutely not. I find it less fun, less romantic, but it's still a privilege to be here.  

When I was a neo pro, everything was less serious. We didn't care about being totally aero, we didn't care about nutrition. We just enjoyed riding our bikes, going full gas, getting back home empty and making a lot of mistakes. We improvised, and we had a lot of fun. At the end of the day, it was all an experience.

Cycling is different now. I'm happy that I was able to be at my prime and fight for success when I did, because it was more thanks to me and my talent. Nowadays, I think it's easier for athletes to perform well and get everything right, thanks to the support and knowledge of their teams and the sport science that is available.  

Cyclingnews: So what advice would you give to Max Poole, Oscar Onley, or even to somebody like Paul Seixas, who is seen as the future of French cycling, and a possible Tour de France winner, like you once were?

RB: My advice is to enjoy every moment, don't just think about just the results you can achieve. Cycling is about much more than simple results. Really try to experience everything you do and grab every opportunity that comes along. Be true to yourself while you are racing, because a lot of things can happen quickly, and your career can change suddenly.  

My biggest achievements came when we improvised during racing. We carefully planned and executed my stage victory at last year's Tour, but it was "pure cycling" as I said at the time. That way it's more satisfying. It's what makes our sport so beautiful, no?

Some riders like the planning and the process, such as a controlled time trial performance. But for me, it's special when you win with inspiration and instinct, with an attack that works.  

Cyclingnews: You only raced for two teams during your career, AG2R La Mondiale between 2012 and 2020 and then Team DSM/Picnic PostNL from 2021 to 2025. They shaped your career and helped you achieve your success, but would you have liked to race for one of the so-called super teams?  

RB: It could have been interesting to see what I could have achieved, but I have no regrets.  

I felt good and was always happy in the teams I rode for. I built strong relationships with people; I was also appreciated for the person that I am, and not treated like a number. I like to build real relationships with people and go for the long term, to really build something special together. I think I always did that.

Cyclingnews: Some riders opt to leave Picnic PostNL or do not seem happy, why did you choose to end your career with this team?

RB: It's about the loyalty they always have for me and their honesty. They've never judged me based on the results. They know from day one how dedicated I am to my job, and they were always super satisfied with me because I always give 100%. It didn't matter to them if I got a top ten or a victory; they showed the same gratitude and offered the same support each time. That makes all the difference.

Bardet's post-racing future

Bardet's racing career will officially end on June 15 when the Critérium du Dauphiné ends on the Plateau du Mont-Cenis in the high Alps, where Bardet often excelled during the Tour de France.

He has some post-racing career plans, but is not yet ready to share them all. He will race gravel for Picnic PostNL, and perhaps even target the Gravel World Championships, before taking time to ease up and reflect on his post-racing future.  

"The rest of 2025 will be a transition period, and then I will have a new project in 2026, but it's a bit early to say what it is," he tells Cyclingnews.

Some well-informed sources in France expect Bardet to eventually replace Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme after some time under his wing.

What's certain is that Bardet wants to give something back to the sport that he believes gave him so much. The Giro d'Italia and the Critérium du Dauphiné will only be a farewell from professional racing, not Bardet's 'adieu' from cycling.

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