Romain Bardet has raced his last road race, writing the last chapter of a 13-and-a-half-year career at the Critérium du Dauphiné, as close as it comes to a race on home roads for the climber born and raised in the foothills of the Alps.
He spent much of his career as a pillar of the AG2R La Mondiale outfit, whose brown shorts are likely to outlast the navy of Picnic-PostNL in his fans' memories, and with whom he made his biggest steps in the sport. As a Frenchman and a climber, he was naturally destined for Tour de France greatness, and while victory stayed just out of reach, the young Bardet found brilliant results each summer. He finished sixth overall at his second appearance, but missed out on the white jersey to nemesis Thibaut Pinot, and he then achieved a career best with second in 2016, a year after he took his first Tour stage win (of four).
Bardet was never a prolific winner, collecting only 11 victories since turning pro, as well as a couple of best-young-rider and two KOM jerseys, including the coveted Tour polka dots; he finished second on 41 occasions including stages, GC, a couple of Monuments and the 2018 World Champs; and third 32 times more. These results mean little, but compared to his wins, these numbers speak of a rider who has portrayed a dogged determination since day dot.
And it's these results, the Almosts, that make the big days that much bigger. Like stage 1 of last year's Tour de France, when, just weeks after announcing it would be his last appearance at the race that defined his career, Bardet made an audacious move to bridge up to a teammate in the breakaway and take an unlikely stage win, and the first yellow jersey of his career with it. That it happened during the foreign Grand Départ was an allegory that poetically described his career, i.e. especially later on, he seemed to race with more freedom outside France.
Bardet has straddled eras, coming up during the Team Sky domination of his home Grand Tour at just the time he was saddled with the ‘next French hope’ mantle, shared with Thibaut Pinot, then watching from the middle distance as a new generation of wunderkinder took over the spotlight as he retreated into mentor and stage-hunter roles, while at the same time his character blossomed.
On the morning of the Dauphiné’s final stage, his current team Picnic-PostNL released a tribute video in which family, friends, team staff, teammates past and present, and many more besides, were asked to describe him in three words. Some were obvious, like passionate, applied, even French, but a few that stuck out include humble, valiant, simple, generous and sincere.
Romain, you brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. Not only the French public but the rest of the world, people that love cycling, love to watch you race.”
– Team DS Matt Winston
Next for Bardet is the apparently hard-to-resist discipline of gravel racing, which he’s committed to exploring for the remainder of 2025 and into next year. He's also dropped hints in the past that he'd love to target the Cape Epic some day. Meanwhile, his relationship with Picnic-PostNL will continue, which is said to include mentoring British GC hopefuls Oscar Onley and Max Poole. And it’s a safe bet he’ll never stray far from the Tour, with which he seems to have mended all bridges that were damaged in the past.
Now let's look back at the storied career of Romain Bardet, turning back time to early 2012...
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