Bardet and Barguil give France hope of ending Tour drought
paris — Maybe the drought will be over soon for French riders at the Tour de France.
It is 32 years since the Tour had a home winner, when Bernard Hinault won the last of his five titles back in 1985.
He didn’t know it then but Hinault’s fifth crown brought an end to a glorious era in French cycling, a period when the home nation won nine Tour titles out of 11.
A long and painful drought followed, but a pair of riders has emerged to rekindle French hopes.
Fan favourite Romain Bardet embodies the revival of French cycling and secured a second consecutive podium finish at the Tour on Sunday, claiming third place, 2 minutes and 20 seconds behind four-time champion Chris Froome.
A year after finishing runner-up to Froome, Bardet was again praised for his bold attacks in the 2017 race. A strong climber with a natural instinct for racing, Bardet rode more consistently but cracked in the final time trial in Marseille.
He still salvaged his podium finish by one second, holding off Froome’s teammate Mikel Landa.
It wasn’t much more than a consolation for the 26-year-old Bardet, but he showed he is now Froome’s match in the high mountains and displayed a fighting spirit in the final few hundred metres of the time trial at the Stade Velodrome.
“I’m pretty excited about the future,” Bardet said.
Froome, who is six years older than Bardet, still has the upper hand in time trials, but has lost the ability to drop rivals with ease at altitude, like he did in 2013 and 2015.
Bardet was quicker than Froome in mountain stages this year and dropped him in the steep climb to Peyragudes in the Pyrenees. He needs to hone his skills in the race against the clock, a discipline he neglected, if he is to compete for the title. —