His great adventure in yellow only lasted 24 hours. “I really enjoyed it. I haven’t been able to really settle down yet but it was an extraordinary experience,” summarized Romain Bardet, the day after his triumph at…
His great adventure in yellow only lasted 24 hours. “I really enjoyed it. I haven’t been able to really settle down yet but it was an extraordinary experience,” summarized Romain Bardet, the day after his triumph in Rimini. He who “had dreamed of it all his life”, took full advantage of it. But the Auvergne knew that the coast of San Luca would be a difficult obstacle to overcome if Pogacar decided to start the fight. And the Slovenian did not hesitate to open hostilities, followed like his shadow by Jonas Vingegaard, who, for the moment, is therefore ready to take up the challenge of a third consecutive victory.
Bardet did not wait for Pogacar to accelerate before weakening. From the first pass, he held on, helped by Warren Barguil, before cracking when climbing for the second time towards the San Luca sanctuary. He lost ground on the terrible San Luca climb (1.9 km at 10.6%). “I knew this climb would be unforgiving, it certainly was, I am in my place,” he declared.
At the finish, Bardet finally finished only 21 seconds behind Pogacar, but he only had a 15-second lead at the start. So here he is relegated to 6 seconds behind the new Slovenian yellow jersey. “Six seconds, it’s a shame, it’s like that, and at the same time I don’t see what more I could do. It’s fate. I am very happy for Kévin Vauquelin who wins this stage. It’s good for the French, the next generation that is there. I also have a little word for Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), who was behind and who helped me, he motivated me again. I know a lot of young people who are into their own thing, selfish and all, and seeing them help me in the finale, when we know each other but not that much, I say hats off” reacted Romain Bardet.
