_-_Tour_de_France_2019%2c_%25C3%25A9tape_4%2c_Reims.jpg) Bardet at the2019 Tour de France | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Romain Bardet | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | L'Empereur Romain (The Roman Emperor)[1][2][3] | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1990-11-09)9 November 1990 (age 35) Brioude, France | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft1⁄2 in)[4] | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb; 10 st 3 lb)[4] | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Climber | ||||||||||||||
| Amateur teams | |||||||||||||||
| 2000–2008 | Vélo Sport Brivadois | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | CR4C Roanne | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Chambéry CF | ||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
| 2012–2020 | Ag2r–La Mondiale[5] | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2025 | Team DSM | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
| |||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Romain Bardet (French pronunciation:[ʁɔmɛ̃baʁdɛ]; born 9 November 1990) is a former French professionalracing cyclist who rode forUCI WorldTeamTeam Picnic–PostNL.[6] Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification contenders inGrand Tours.
So far in his career, his best results have primarily come on home soil. He has won a total of four stages in theTour de France in four separate years, running from 2015 to 2017 and then in 2024; he placed in the top ten overall for five consecutive years (from2014 to2018) and finished on the podium twice: second overall in 2016 and third overall in 2017. He has also worn theYoung rider classification jersey, and won theMountains classification jersey in 2019 as well as the overallCombativity Award in 2015. Outside of France, he won a stage at the2021 Vuelta a España, and won the general classification at the2022 Tour of the Alps.
Bardet turned professional in 2012.[7] He distinguished himself in that year'sTour of Turkey especially in the 3rd stage, which was a mountain affair, where he attacked relentlessly to finally take fifth place.[8] He also finished fifth overall in the race.[9]
.jpg)
The following season, Bardet rode his firstTour de France and took his first professional victory at theTour de l'Ain.
His next victory came the following year when he wonLa Drôme Classic, his first single-day race win. Bardet finished 4th overall at theVolta a Catalunya and also rode his firstCritérium du Dauphiné where he finished 5th overall. Going into theTour de France, Bardet was team leader together withJean-Christophe Péraud. Bardet climbed to 3rd place overall at the end of the second week, and even had a short stint in thewhite jersey. Despite losing his podium place in the final week, Bardet still attacked on downhill sections to potentially gain seconds on his rivals. In the end, Bardet finished 6th overall and Péraud finished 2nd overall.Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) took the win in the white jersey standings, in front of Bardet in 2nd place.
_(cropped).JPG)
After a spring campaign which included a 6th place atLiège–Bastogne–Liège and 9th overall at theTour de Romandie, Bardet was regarded as one of the outsiders for a podium spot in theTour de France. In his final stage race before the Tour, theCritérium du Dauphiné, Bardet went on the attack on the downhill section before the last climb on stage 5. He gained a minute on the technical descent, then climbed up to the ski resort ofPra-Loup to win the stage solo, 36 seconds ahead of second-placedTejay van Garderen.[10] He went on to finish 6th overall at the race.
At the Tour de France, Bardet lost time in the crosswinds in the Netherlands and theteam time trial in the first week. When the mountains finally arrived, Bardet lost even more time and with almost half of the race done, out of general classification contention. On the last day in thePyrenees, he went into the breakaway and finished third in the stage toPlateau de Beille. Bardet andThibaut Pinot were part of a breakaway and led over the top of the finalCôte de la Croix Neuve climb of Stage 14. However, the pair were caught and overtaken bySteve Cummings (MTN–Qhubeka) on the short descent to the finish at Mende Aerodrome, and Bardet finished third in the stage. On 23 July 2015, after a solo breakaway, Bardet wonStage 18, a mountain stage for his first Tour de Francestage victory.[11] The next day, he claimed thepolka dot jersey for the first time, after finishing fifth in Stage 19, another mountain stage.[12] However, he lost the polka dot jersey toChris Froome on Stage 20. Bardet finished in ninth place in thefinal general classification and won thecombativity award of the Tour.
.jpg)
In February 2016, Bardet repeatedly attackedVincenzo Nibali (Astana) during Stage 4 of theTour of Oman and ultimately finished the stage in second position, 9 seconds behind him. Bardet finished the Tour of Oman second overall, 15 seconds behind Nibali.[13] In June, Bardet attacked during Stage 6 ofCritérium du Dauphiné and ultimately finished second in the stage after being outsprinted byThibaut Pinot to the finish line inMéribel. After Stage 6, Bardet rose to third overall in the general classification, 21 seconds behind the leaderChris Froome.[14] Bardet finished second overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné final general classification, 12 seconds behind Froome.[15]
On Stage 19 of theTour de France, Bardet and his team mateMikaël Cherel attacked together on a wet descent before the penultimate climb. Bardet escaped the yellow jersey group on the lower slopes ofMont Blanc with 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to go. Bardet caught the breakaway survivorRui Costa with 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to go, dropped him on the steepest pitches of the final climb with 3.2 kilometres (2.0 miles) remaining and won the stage by 23 seconds over second-placedJoaquim Rodríguez; ultimately, he was the only Frenchman to win a stage in the 2016 Tour de France. After winning Stage 19, Bardet rose from fifth to second overall in the general classification. He finished the Tour in second position in the final general classification, 4:05 behindChris Froome,[16] becoming the sixth Frenchman to finish in the top three in thefinal general classification over the previous 30 editions; the other five were Pinot andJean-Christophe Péraud (both 2014),Richard Virenque (1996, 1997),Laurent Fignon (1989) andJean-François Bernard (1987).[17]
Bardet was selected to representFrance at theSummer Olympics in theindividual road race, finishing 24th.
.jpg)
After crashing on stage 1 ofParis–Nice, Bardet was thrown out of the race after he had been towed by his team car.[18] Bardet wonstage 12 of theTour de France, with an acceleration near the finishing line inPeyragudes in the FrenchPyrenees, going clear with less than 500 metres (1,600 feet) to go to take his third stage win in as many years.[19][20] Bardet struggled throughout thepenultimate stage, a 22.5-kilometre (14.0-mile)individual time trial, that started and finished inMarseille; he finished in 52nd position, 2 minutes 3 seconds behind its winnerMaciej Bodnar.[21] Bardet dropped from second to third in the general classification going into thefinal stage, with a one-second lead over fourth-placedMikel Landa. Bardet managed to hold on to his advantage, completing the podium behindChris Froome andRigoberto Urán.
Bardet missed theVuelta a Andalucía after injuring his right arm in a domestic accident.[22] He returned to action with a victory in theClassic Sud-Ardèche in February. In March, Bardet rode theStrade Bianche one day classic, held partly on gravel roads in torrential rain. He broke away with the world cyclocross championWout van Aert and the pair led the race for much of the final 40 kilometres (25 miles) beforeTiesj Benoot (Lotto–Soudal) attacked from a chasing group to catch and then drop them in the final sector of dirt roads. Benoot soloed to victory by 39 seconds ahead of Bardet,[23] who dropped van Aert in the final kilometre.[23] AtLiège–Bastogne–Liège, Bardet finished 3rd – his first podium at aCycling monument – after losing the 2nd place sprint toMichael Woods. When riding theCritérium du Dauphiné, Bardet never challenged for the overall win and only entered the top 3 inside the last two days.
When he arrived at the start of theTour de France, Bardet had a troubled first week with mechanicals and punctures.[24] He lost time on multiple occasions during the first week and was almost two minutes behind when they started the 10th stage. On stage 12 toAlpe d'Huez, Bardet attacked and rode away from the other contenders. He was later joined byChris Froome,Geraint Thomas andTom Dumoulin, but decided to test the contenders with numerous accelerations. He ended the stage in 3rd place and rose to 6th place in the general classification.[25] With Bardet only being 8th in the general classification before stage 19, he and several other contenders attacked on theCol du Tourmalet with almost 100 kilometres (62 miles) to the finish line.[26] Despite being caught on the last climb, Bardet finished third in the sprint to the finish line. He moved up to a final placing of sixth overall after the penultimate stage, anindividual time trial – his fifth consecutive top-ten finish at the race.
In September, Bardet finished 2nd in theroad race at theUCI Road World Championships, after having attacked withAlejandro Valverde (Spain) and Canada's Woods. The group was later joined byTom Dumoulin (Netherlands) inside the last kilometres. Valverde started the sprint with almost 200 metres (660 feet) to the finish line but Bardet never looked like a serious challenge and had to settle with 2nd place.[27]
.jpg)
Bardet started his 2019 season with a block of racing in France, finishing second overall at theTour du Haut Var, losing out toThibaut Pinot on the final stage, which ended with a summit finish atMont Faron.[28] He then finished fourth in theClassic Sud-Ardèche, seventh atLa Drôme Classic and fifth overall atParis–Nice.[29] In preparation for theTour de France, Bardet contested theCritérium du Dauphiné, finishing in tenth place overall, and was second toJesús Herrada in theinaugural Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge, which finished atopMont Ventoux.[30] At the Tour de France, Bardet lost more than 20 minutes on stage 14 – which finished at theCol du Tourmalet – which removed him from overall contention.[31] He then shifted his focus to attempting to winning stages from the breakaway, but his best result was a second-place finish on stage eighteen, won byNairo Quintana.[32] However, Bardet did take the lead of themountains classification,[33] holding the polka-dot jersey for the remainder of the race.[34] He ended his season following the Tour de France, stating that he needed to "regenerate".[35]
Bardet contested four races in the early part of 2020, prior to theCOVID-19 pandemic-enforced suspension of racing, with his best result being second overall at theTour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var. Following the resumption of racing, Bardet contested only races in France for the remainder of the season, with the exception ofBrabantse Pijl and theTour of Flanders held in Belgium in October.[36] He ran as high as fourth overall in theTour de France, but withdrew ahead of the fourteenth stage following a crash, which left him with a concussion and a "small haemorrhage".[36][37]
In August 2020, Bardet signed an initial two-year contract withTeam Sunweb, later renamed Team DSM, from the 2021 season, and team dsm-firmenich, from the 2023 season.[38]
.jpg)
Bardet made his first start at theGiro d'Italia, sharing team leadership withJai Hindley, the2020 runner-up.[39] Bardet made his way up the general classification, moving into the top ten overall after stage 14, finishing at theMonte Zoncolan. He finished second toEgan Bernal on stage 16,[40] and moved up to fifth place overall on the penultimate stage, following a fourth-place stage finish.[41] However, he fell to seventh in the general classification during the final-dayindividual time trial, dropping behindDaniel Martínez andJoão Almeida. Bardet also rode into the leader's jersey at theVuelta a Burgos, a preparation race for theVuelta a España. In spite of his crash on the descent of the Picón Blanco climb, he won the third stage solo toEspinosa de los Monteros, his first in over three years.[42] He held a 45-second lead overMikel Landa heading into the final stage, but he lost the race lead to Landa after cracking in the final 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) of the stage; he ultimately finished sixth overall, and won the mountains classification.[43]
On stage 5 of the Vuelta a España,[44] Bardet crashed and lost over twelve minutes; he lost a further thirteen minutes the following day, removing him from overall contention. On stage 14, he was involved in the breakaway; he chased down several counter-attacks, and went clear with 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) to go. He then rode solo to the summit finish atPico Villuercas to claim the stage win, 44 seconds ahead ofJesús Herrada.[45] Bardet held the mountains classification for four days, before the lead passed to his teammateMichael Storer.[46] Bardet and Storer also made it into the breakaway on the penultimate stage; Storer mathematically sealed the mountains jersey ahead of the final time trial, while Bardet finished second in the standings.[47]
Prior to theGiro d'Italia, Bardet took the overall victory at theTour of the Alps, his first general classification win since the 2013Tour de l'Ain.[48] WithJai Hindley having moved toBora–Hansgrohe, Bardet had outright team leadership atTeam DSM for the Giro d'Italia,[49] and during the race, he signed a two-year contract extension with the team.[50] In the ninth stage, Bardet finished second to Hindley on a summit finish at Blockhaus, moving up to third place overall.[51] He lost a place toRichard Carapaz a couple of stages later, and was out of the race altogether by the end of stage thirteen, abandoning the race due to sickness.[52]
.jpg)
His next start was at theTour de France, where he finished in the top-three on the eleventh stage, which finished at theCol du Granon; he moved up to second overall behindJonas Vingegaard following the stage.[53] He lost almost 20 seconds to Vingegaard,Geraint Thomas andTadej Pogačar the following day, as he dropped from second to fourth onBastille Day. He lost more than three minutes on stage sixteen,[54] dropping to ninth overall; he yo-yoed around the lower half of the top-ten placings for the remainder of the race, finishing seventh overall on the road, before being promoted to sixth withNairo Quintana's disqualification.
Bardet started his season with top-ten overall finishes at theTour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var andParis–Nice stage races – finishing eighth and seventh respectively – and also finished in ninth place atLa Flèche Wallonne.[55] At theTour de Romandie, Bardet finished third on a hilly second stage, and ultimately finished in seventh overall. He contested theTour de Suisse for the first time,[56] where he recorded three top-ten stage finishes, and finished fifth overall.[57]
Bardet opened the 2024 season with a third place in theClassic Var in February. In late April, he finished second toTadej Pogačar inLiège–Bastogne–Liège.[58] He next competed in theGiro d'Italia, finishing second on stage 10 and 9th overall.
In late June, Bardet won his fourth careerTour de France stage on the first day of the race, holding off the chasing peloton by five seconds with teammateFrank van den Broek.[59] This also marked the only time in his career that he would hold the Tour de FranceYellow Jersey.
Following the conclusion of the2025 Critérium du Dauphiné, Bardet retired from professional road cycling.[60]
After retiring from road cycling, Bardet extended his contract with Team Picnic–PostNL and announced that he intends to race the remainder of the 2025 season and the 2026 season on gravel.[61]
Bardet lives inClermont-Ferrand.[62] Alongside his professional cycling career, he began business studies in 2011, in thegrande école program adapted to high-level athletes inGrenoble School of Management.[63]
Source:[64]
OverallTour de l'Ain
Points classification
Young rider classification
Combativity award Stage 9Tour de France Young rider classification,Tour of Oman after Stages 10–15Combativity award Stage 17Combativity award Stage 18 & Overall
after Stage 19
Combativity award Stage 11Vuelta a España
Road race,UCI Road World ChampionshipsMountains classification,Tour de France
after Stage 14–17
Mountains classification OverallTour of the Alps after Stage 1Combativity award Stage 8| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | DNF | — | 9 | 26 |
| Tour de France | — | 15 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 15 | DNF | — | 6 | DNF | 30 | — |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | 25 | — | 21 | — | — |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||||||||
| Race | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
 Paris–Nice | — | 27 | 36 | 14 | 9 | DSQ | — | 5 | 19 | — | — | 7 | — | — |
 Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | — | — | — | 13 | — | — | 8 | 12 | — | DNF | — |
 Volta a Catalunya | 40 | — | 4 | DNF | 6 | 10 | — | DNF | NH | — | — | DNF | — | — |
| Tour of the Basque Country | — | 53 | — | — | — | 15 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tour de Romandie | — | — | — | 9 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | |
 Critérium du Dauphiné | — | — | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 6 | — | — | — | — | 26 |
| Tour de Suisse | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NH | — | — | 5 | — | — |
| Monument | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | 50 | — | 27 | — | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | Did not contest during his career | |||||||||||||
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | 13 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 21 | — | — | DNF | 15 | 2 | 82 |
| Giro di Lombardia | 29 | — | 11 | 17 | 4 | — | DNF | — | — | 8 | 9 | 11 | — | — |
| Classic | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Strade Bianche | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | 20 | — | — | 17 | — |
| Brabantse Pijl | — | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | 27 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Amstel Gold Race | 25 | 48 | 33 | — | — | — | — | 9 | NH | — | — | — | — | — |
| La Flèche Wallonne | 29 | 111 | 35 | — | — | 13 | 9 | 13 | — | — | — | 9 | — | — |
| Clásica de San Sebastián | 33 | 20 | 18 | 84 | — | — | — | — | NH | — | — | 38 | DNF | — |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | 56 | 107 | 24 | 35 | 22 | — | — | — | Not held | 20 | — | 90 | — | |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | 22 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 20 | — | — | — | 8 | — | 11 | — | ||
| Milano–Torino | 43 | — | — | 11 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Tours | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Event | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Olympic Games | Road race | — | Not held | 24 | Not held | — | Not held | — | ||||||
 World Championships | Road race | — | 28 | 62 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | 22 | — | 10 |
 National Championships | Road race | 74 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 10 | — | — | — | 10 | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| IP | In progress |
| NH | Not held |
In terms of the here and now, Bardet is focused on the Tour de Suisse, a race he's never competed in during his long and illustrious career.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
| Other | |
