Romain Bardet plays down GC options in Giro d’Italia, prioritizes stages

At 33 and with an impressive series of victories and podium finishes in his palmarès, Romain Bardet may be tried and tested when it comes to fielding all manner of questions about bike racing. But during his pre-Giro d’Italia press conference on Friday, when he was told that Tadej pogačar had named him as a leading GC rival, not even as skilled a media practitioner as Bardet could seemingly hide a look of slight surprise.

Bardet does have previous form when it comes to top GC finishes, mind and he is clearly in good race condition. He has finished twice on the Tour de France podium, albeit in an increasingly distant 2016 and 2017, and only recently claimed his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium finish, behind Pogačar, as well as a top five overall in the Tour of the Alps. His Giro track record is anything but poor, too.