Romain Bardet brings curtain down on cycling career at Critérium du Dauphiné

Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) completed his final professional road race at the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday, receiving a guard of honour from the peloton before the start of stage 8 from Val-d'Arc to Plateau du Mont-Cenis. 

The 34-year-old Frenchman, who announced his retirement from road racing earlier this year, was supported throughout the mountain stage by his Picnic PostNL teammates before deliberately dropping from the main group on the final climb to savour the moment.

The peloton maintained a high tempo throughout the stage, gradually reducing in size as riders tackled each climb. When the race reached the final ascent, Bardet made the conscious decision to sit up and cruise home on what would be the final few kilometres of his professional road career, completing the climb alongside teammate and close friend Chris Hamilton to absorb the atmosphere fully and the passionate support from roadside fans.

"I've been preparing and then racing for a while in this last period since before the Giro, as I've been having a lot of fun," Bardet said after crossing the finish line. "Seeing everything and everyone at the side of the road today, it's a magnificent finish to the race. It was hard not to let emotion get the better of me, too."

Despite the sentimental nature of the occasion, Bardet acknowledged the challenging nature of the stage itself.

"During the stage, I don't have too much time to think about that, though; there was great emotion at the start, but honestly, it was a really hard pace during the stage," Bardet explained.

Bardet, who turned professional in 2012 and was born in Brioude, the start town of stage 3 of this Dauphiné, expressed satisfaction at being able to conclude his road career on home roads.

"I'm happy to have been able to end my career in a place I know well; the setting is magnificent in the middle of the mountains," said Bardet. "I'm very happy to finish with all my friends, and we get to ride down the mountain together one last time."

While this Dauphiné marks the end of Bardet's road racing career, the Frenchman will continue to race as he transitions over to gravel racing, something which has become common with many retiring road riders.

Bardet turned professional in 2012, one year after winning a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. In 2013, a fresh-faced Bardet lined up in Corsica for what would be the first of 11 Tour de France starts in his career, and even on his debut, there were signs of Bardet's talent as he would finish 15th overall. That Grand Tour debut paid dividends, as Bardet would win the GC at the Tour de l’Ain only a few weeks later.

French fans had been waiting for a new Tour champion ever since Bernard Hinault conquered the race for the fifth and final time in 1985. 2014 was the year when French fans started to dream again as two young stars emerged and were locked in a battle with one another to claim the adoration of France. Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot both shone on the biggest stage and made huge steps up. Pinot got the upper hand on this occasion, finishing third and winning the youth classification, but for Bardet, a sixth place finish was another impressive performance as he continued his positive trajectory towards future Tour success.

A year later, Bardet captured hearts with an audacious 35km solo effort to win stage 18 of the 2015 Tour de France in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. It was a performance that illustrated everything special about Bardet as a rider, daring to roll the dice on the climb, poetry in motion on the descent, and leaving everything out on the road in an attempt for ultimate glory. Ninth place on GC wasn’t as high as the previous year, but Bardet was rewarded for his efforts with the supercombative prize.

2016 proved to be the year where Bardet would achieve his highest finish at the Tour, runner-up, 4:05 behind Chris Froome, who claimed his third title. Once more, Bardet was able to lift his arms aloft in celebration after winning stage 19 on the slopes of Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, jumping from fifth to second in the general classification, a position he would successfully defend on the following stage before the parade in Paris. 

For the third consecutive year, Bardet became a stage winner at the Tour in 2017, in what was one of his most memorable victories, punching away from the likes of Rigoberto Urán, Fabio Aru, and Froome on the extremely steep slopes at the Peyragudes altiport runway. This edition was the closest that Bardet came to eternal glory as he sat in second position, just 23 seconds behind Froome heading into stage 20's time trial. He was unable to topple Froome in a discipline where the Briton reigned supreme, however, and he slipped to third on the podium, holding off Mikel Landa in fourth by a solitary second. Fine margins after three weeks of racing, as Bardet achieved what would be the final Tour de France podium of his career.

Twelve months later, Bardet had to settle for sixth at the Tour, but the highlight of his year came at the World Championships in Innsbruck, where he was outsprinted by Alejandro Valverde. France had arguably the strongest team on paper, and when the likes of Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe faded, Bardet stepped up to finish second, so close to becoming the first male French road world champion since Laurent Brochard in 1997.

Despite narrowly missing out on the rainbow bands, Bardet bounced back to claim another of cycling's most treasured jerseys, as he claimed polka dots by winning the mountains classification at the 2019 Tour. This was the year when we saw a switch in Bardet's priorities, as the GC became less and less significant in the latter part of his career.

Like most, 2020 proved to be a strange year of racing, in the congested schedule. It was a tough year in particular for Bardet who crashed on stage 13 of the Tour de France, but was able to pick himself up and finish the stage, although it was very clear he wasn’t in a good place. It turned out that Bardet had suffered a concussion, and MRI scans showed a small haemorrhage also,” and this meant that he was out of the race, having sat in fourth on GC at the start of the previous stage.

The transfer from AG2R to DSM led to many changes for Bardet in 2021, and he skipped his home grand tour for the first and only time in his career. It proved to be a successful expedition as Bardet finished seventh at the Giro d'Italia and he claimed a fine stage win at the Vuelta a España.

2022 proved to be one of the toughest years of Bardet's career, yet the Frenchman continuously bounced back from setbacks to prove his class. Having won the general classification at the Tour of the Alps, Bardet looked to be a bona fide contender to win the Giro d'Italia. Two days after winning in the Alps, he would race in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he showed a quality of a different kind, helping fellow Frenchman Alaphilippe after the mass crash that marred the race. 

Bardet arrived at the Giro arguably in even better shape than what we had seen at the Tour of the Alps, finishing second in a small group sprint atop the mighty Blockhaus mountain just behind Jai Hindley to leave himself within touching distance of pink. However, Bardet suffered a nasty crash which left him with a concussion, although the Frenchman finished the stage, but had to abandon at the start of the following stage. Bardet's character shone through as he would bounce back to finish sixth at the Tour de France.

There was success unexpectedly in 2023 as Bardet's team, then known as dsm-firmenich, won the opening team time trial at the Vuelta, on a stage that was marred by the rain. Bardet would go on to achieve three podium finishes on stages at the Spanish Grand Tour in the 2023 edition.

While the dream of standing on the Champs-Élysées in yellow had sailed into the horizon, the yellow spark had not completely fizzled out. There were still signs of one last major win for Bardet as he had finished second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the spring behind Tadej Pogačar. 

On an attritional opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France, Bardet’s final edition, the Frenchman launched what initially seemed to be an innocuous move on the penultimate climb of the stage with just over 50 kilometres remaining. He linked up with young Dutch teammate Frank van den Broek, a rider 10 years younger and making his Tour debut, and the duo were able to pull off a remarkable heist. 

For Bardet, it was a fourth and final Tour de France stage win, and more importantly, the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey for the first time. It may not have been for the long term, but the last piece of the puzzle had been unlocked. A lifelong dream fulfilled by the rider racing in his final ever Tour de France.

2025 was the shortest year of Bardet's professional road career as he hung up his racing wheels to focus on gravel racing, but the Frenchman still achieved plenty in the short time with combative performances at the Giro d'Italia and the Critérium du Dauphiné. Bardet bowed out from the sport, still very competitive at the highest level, and staying true to his courageous and combative spirit to the end.