Cyclist Romain Bardet ends his career with the Dauphiné

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The French rider, who has twice reached the podium in the Tour de France and worn the yellow jersey, is taking part in his final race, which begins this Sunday, June 8.

Romain Bardet, rider for the DSM-Firmenich PostNL team, during a press conference in Moulins on June 7, 2025, on the eve of the 77th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP)

In 2017, Romain Bardet is a rider who is supposedly at the top of his game. On the eve of his participation in the Tour, which he will finish on the podium for the second consecutive year, burdened by a crushing load, his hopes of a French yellow jersey at the finish of the Grande Boucle d'Italie d'Italia dashed since Hinault in 1985, he assures Libération : "For the moment, the guiding principle of the Tour de France suits me, I'm not tired of coming back to defend my chances, in a big machine whose cogs I know well. For a while, I was tempted to discover the Giro d'Italia. In the end, I don't regret at all having given it a miss: the race probably wouldn't have suited me. On the contrary, I feel a healthy excitement rising within me as this Tour de France approaches."

Bardet, described as one of the "intellectuals" of the peloton , his phrasing and vocabulary always rigorously studied, is not in the habit of speaking out. So, how can we reread these statements? The 34-year-old rider endorses this