5 of the best Romain Bardet moments

Cyclist
5 of the best Romain Bardet moments

Romain Bardet will retire from road racing at the end of the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné. The 33-year-old has given us so many great moments throughout his career, including podiums in Grand Tours and Monuments. 

The ongoing 2024 Tour de France is his final time participating in his home race, a race that has brought him both joy and heartbreak over the years. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the Tour features so prominently in our list of his five greatest career moments. After all, it would be hard to look past Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour, when Bardet finally achieved his dream of wearing the coveted yellow jersey – and he did so in some style, leading a 1-2 ahead of teammate Frank van den Broek. But before we get into that one…

#5: A quiet moment of reflection at the 2022 Tour de France

The mythical Col du Granon. An hors categorie climb that stands at 11.3km in length with a 9.2% average gradient appearing on the Tour route for the first time since 1986. On a historic day that saw Jumbo-Visma throwing sustained punches at maillot jaune Tadej Pogačar, Bardet took off in the last five kilometres. He was soon joined but then overtaken by Jonas Vingegaard.

It was a stage for the ages, but what happened afterwards with Bardet was just as memorable. He crossed the line in third on the day – though second place Nairo Quintana of Arkéa-Samsic would later be disqualified – and after 152km in the saddle, spit drooling from his mouth as he arrived at the top of the brutal mountain, he took himself away to recover on his own on the grass near the summit, sitting on the ground with his back to everyone. Alone. It is perhaps the most peaceful place he could find himself that day. 

What he was possibly thinking in that moment, if anything, we can only imagine. But his display saw him climb to second place overall, leaping over Pogačar in the standings and sitting behind only Vingegaard in a remarkable display of climbing.

#4: Bouncing back at the 2021 Vuelta a España 

It could’ve been easy to insert another Tour de France moment here, but this list is already packed with them. In 2021, Bardet moved from AG2R-La Mondiale to Team DSM and skipped the Tour for the Vuelta a España as a ‘reset’. DSM were struggling that season, with only five total wins by the time the Vuelta came around. Yet Michael Storer kicked off a big turnaround for the team by winning Stages 7 and 10. 

Bardet didn’t have quite the same fortune to begin with though. He was one of many riders who hit the ground in a large crash on Stage 5 and lost over 12 minutes that day. He crossed the line with teammate Chris Hamilton as half of a four-man group that finished dead last on the road.

On Stage 14 he slotted into a large breakaway and swept up mountains classification points to top the standings for the polka dot jersey. The last test on this final day of the second week came in the form of a new climb for the Vuelta, the Category 1 Pico Villuercas. Bardet looked to be in his element, and although he thought about dropping back from the uncooperative group, he pushed on solo instead. And it was a wise decision as he was soon punching his fist in the air as he crossed the line for his first stage victory at the Vuelta a España.  

A new team, a fresh start, a first at the Vuelta.

#3: Second overall at the 2016 Tour de France

Holding the hopes of a nation is a concept intertwined with so many of Bardet’s greatest moments, with most of them coming at the Tour de France. Like Thibaut Pinot, he once bore the heavy responsibility of being the French hope in the race, which a Frenchman had not won since Bernard Hinault in 1985.

His victory on a mountainous 146km Stage 19 came on a day with four climbs in close succession, the HC Montée de Bisanne preceding the summit finish on the Category 1 Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. Bardet broke away at the base of the final ascent and stayed away, winning the stage and hopping from 5th to 2nd overall. And there he would stay. 

With the sun setting on Paris after the finale of Stage 21, Bardet stepped onto the podium for his second place trophy. French flags lined the Champs-Elysees, the Arc du Triomphe standing tall in the distance. This was his best result not just at the Tour de France, but in any Grand Tour.

#2: A phenomenal 2018 season, from Classics to Worlds

Bardet kicked off one of his best seasons in style. Usually a race renowned for its beauty, taking riders through the white gravel roads of Tuscany, the heavens opened at Strade Bianche. Bardet bridged the gap from the chasers to the leaders solo, his AG2R La Mondiale jersey and brown bib shorts doing little to camouflage the caked mud, and quickly launched a two-man breakaway with Wout van Aert, riding at the time for Verandas Willems-Crelan-Charles. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) clawed his way to the pair in the final 15km before leaving them behind for victory. Bardet finished in second, just over half a minute behind. 

At Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the leading group let an attack from Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) go, with an unwillingness to chase ultimately leaving two podium places up for grabs. Bardet already had two sixth place finishes in the race in 2015 and 2017, and got a small gap heading into the final turn with EF Education First-Drapac’s Michael Woods. The duo launched into what sprint they could still manage with such depleted legs as Jungels’ teammate Julian Alaphilippe threatened to pass the pair in the final hundred metres. Bardet clung on.

We couldn’t talk about Liège-Bastogne-Liège without giving an honourable mention to his performance there in 2024. UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar had broken away to win, but Bardet distanced the group behind on his own. In the last kilometre, the Frenchman was in tears and gave a thumbs up towards the camera with a grin on his face; he proved he’s still got it, coming away with a career-best Monument result.

Back to 2018. The Road Race World Championships course was a punishing, hilly 265km around Innsbruck and Bardet once again linked up with Canada’s Woods towards the end of the race. While their efforts dropped Italy’s Gianni Moscon, nothing could shake off eventual winner Alejandro Valverde. At the finish they were joined by the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin for a four-man sprint and Bardet sprinted to second behind the Spaniard.

When it’s rainbow jersey or bust, second is the most painful place to finish, especially by such a small margin after a brutal day of racing. Afterwards, Bardet said, ‘We were so close to victory so we can’t be satisfied with second place in the biggest race in the world.’ He has so often held the hopes of his nation, and while the stop step has been elusive, he always rode hard and never let them down. 

#1: Finally stepping into the maillot jaune

196 stages. Over a decade in professional cycling. When Bardet clipped in for Stage 1 of the Tour de France in Florence, he probably couldn’t have dreamed of the magic that would unfold on the road to Rimini. He had tried to get in the breakaway himself, but ended up having to escape from the peloton late in the day, with his neo-pro teammate Frank van den Broek waiting for him so they could work together.

The duo wound through the streets into the final straight traversing the coast. They couldn’t celebrate yet, the sprinters were coming. It couldn’t have been much closer but they just about managed to evade their clutches and a few metres from the line they could revel in their achievements. A 1-2 and the yellow jersey.

The maillot jaune is the boldest signifier of a rider’s status. It’s a symbol that transcends the sport, even many who don’t follow cycling know the Tour and the yellow jersey. It’s an honour to wear it, for some it’s the height of their career. It’s an opportunity that not many accomplish and it took Bardet a long time to do it, but he finally did it at his final Tour de France.

After the stage, Bardet said, ‘It’s certainly one of the goals I set for my career. I’ve been really close before, within touching distance, but I was never able to do it. Today… I had a great teammate with me. I think when I reflect on this victory, I will look back on it and remember how special it was.’

Thank you for the memories Romain Bardet, let’s hope there’s still some more to come.

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