TOUR OF ITALY | 03/05/2024 | 12.32pm
by Francesca Monzone
Among the grand tour riders, Romain Bardet is one of those with the most experience: He has 15 participations under his belt. Tomorrow will be the third time for him in the pink race, after having participated in 2021 and 2022. The Frenchman was clear about his intentions: will not run for the general classification, but for stage victories and doesn’t like comparisons with Tadej Pogacar. «I feel good, I’m happy to be here, I missed not being able to come to the Giro last year. Of the big tours this is the one that suits me the most and I really like its unpredictability».
Bardet, who races with the DSM firmenich PostNL, feels well prepared and this, which could be his last year as a professional, he wants to experience without great stress to enjoy each stage to the fullest. «We have prepared ourselves as best we can with the team: I won’t be obsessed with the general classification but I will fight to win a stage. We’ll see how the race develops, I’ll try to interpret each mountain stage as if it were a classic because I want to feel the adrenaline to win.”
Pogacar is the strongest rider and the Frenchman doesn’t want comparisons, because he wants to think exclusively about his route and not about what the others will do. «It’s difficult to say whether I will be a rival to Pogacar. He’s strong and he’s the favourite, I don’t want to compare myself with him. I am very motivated and this year I wanted to repeat the same program as in 2022 because it is the one that suits me the most. At the Tours of the Alps and at Liège I was fine, I still don’t know if I will retire at the end of the year, I will only decide when we are at the end of the season.”
Bardet really likes the pink race even though he has only participated in it twice, because he has always focused on the Tour de France. This year, however, will be different and he wants to arrive in Rome with the satisfaction of having raced to the best of his ability.
«The thing I like most about the Giro is that something can always happen, there are always escapes and the situation can change at any moment and for this reason there are certainly more opportunities. It will be important to handle the first weekend well in order to have a good rankingbut we all know that the Giro will be decided in the last week, when the big mountains arrive.”
Bardet achieved some good results in 2024 and among these is second place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, right behind Pogacar. “As I said I will run every stage as if it were a Classic, I won’t think about gaining time, because there will surely be occasions when I will lose it, such as in a time trial. It was a year of many sacrifices, many retreats. I didn’t run much in the first part because I wanted to arrive fresh in May, because my goal is to arrive well in Rome.”
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