Romain Bardet has raced enough Tours de France to know that the climbs unveiled at the presentation in October aren’t necessarily the ones faced the following July. These mountains may be as old as time, but they change according to the circumstances.
In 2017, Bardet scaled the Mur de Péguère frustrated by the heavy marking and lack of collaboration in the yellow jersey group, but still resolutely in the hunt for final overall victory at the Tour de France. On Tuesday, the Team DSM rider was the first of the GC men to lose contact with the groupe maillot jaune on an afternoon of sweltering heat, and by the time he forlornly crested the summit, his podium challenge was already over.
Bardet was shepherded by teammates Chris Hamilton and Andreas Leknessund over the climb and down the sinuous descent into Foix, where his deficit on Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar et al stretched beyond three-and-a-half minutes. In the overall standings, he slips from fourth to ninth. He lies 6:37 off Vingegaard’s yellow jersey and just under four minutes off a podium spot.
“I was feeble, I was struggling to accelerate, I had headaches. It was really one of the worst days I’ve known in some time,” Bardet said after he reached Foix. “It was a calvaire, an ordeal.
“I have to say a big chapeau to my teammates, who were there from the start to the end, because without them, I wouldn’t have finished the stage. I don’t know where that came from. I had chills… It was really a terrible day.”
Earlier in this Tour, Geraint Thomas suggested that Bardet was in something approaching the form of his life. The 31-year-old had certainly given that impression at May’s Giro d’Italia, where he appeared among the strongest in the race on the Blockhaus on stage 9.
“After that day, we thought I could win the Giro,” Bardet told Pédale magazine just before the Tour. Maddeningly, illness cut Bardet’s challenge short a few days later.
This Tour offered Bardet a chance to try again. He began the race ostensibly targeting stage victories, but his consistent climbing in the Alps quickly pushed him into the reckoning for a podium finish. He began the Tour’s third week just 18 seconds behind the third-placed Thomas, but his hopes of a third podium finish in Paris effectively ended on the upper reaches of Mur de Péguère, when the group of favourites began to fragment.
The groupe maillot jaune had already been stretched atop the preceding Port de Lers, when Pogacar attacked Vingegaard for the first time. The pace-making of Pogacar’s teammate Rafal Majka saw Bardet bunt off definitively on the day’s final climb.
“I was pitiful to see, going up at 5kph. That's how it is, I tried not to let go but I couldn't keep a constant, high pace," said Bardet.
“It wasn’t even the legs, I was just simply completely lost. I had nothing. My head was pounding, and I was really out of it.”
On Monday’s rest day, Bardet noted that his proximity to Vingegaard, Pogacar and Thomas in the overall standings limited his prospects of adding to his tally of Tour stage wins.
His new deficit ostensibly gives him rather more freedom, but it is unclear if Bardet will be able to summon up the energy to take advantage. Wednesday’s stage 16 finishes at Peyragudes, where Bardet scored his career-best victory five years ago, but that mountain might feel rather different this time out.
“The desire will be there, but now I really have to rest because I didn’t see that coming,” Bardet said of his struggles.
“I felt fresh this morning, but from the first accelerations, I couldn’t follow. It’s difficult to take. I hope I can get back on track, because there are still nice days to come.”
While Bardet’s podium prospects shrank, his compatriot David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) enjoyed a more fruitful outing on Mur de Péguère, limiting the damage on the climb sufficiently to latch back on over the top.
He jumps three places to fifth overall, 4:24 behind Vingegaard and 1:41 off the podium.
“I didn’t have super legs today but it’s still ok,” Gaudu said.
“I’ll need a little bit of luck to finish on the podium. After that, nobody is safe from a bad day, whether it’s me or Geraint Thomas or somebody else. I hope the best is yet to come.”
