BERGERAC, France (AFP) — Romain Bardet said on Monday he was ready for a psychological and tactical battle to try to dethrone Sky’s Chris Froome at the Tour de France.
The 26-year-old impressed with his panache on Sunday’s brutal, mountainous stage 9. The Ag2r La Mondiale leader attacked on a fast and slippery descent before battling solo for almost 20km in a bid to win the stage and take some time out of Froome’s lead.
However, Froome teamed up with Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), Fabio Aru and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) to chase down his closest challenger from last year’s edition of the Grand Boucle.
Although Bardet gained no time on the yellow jersey, he moved up to third overall. Perhaps more importantly, he proved he has the form and the guts to take on all comers.
“For us it’s a largely favorable situation, although yesterday we could have struck a big blow,” said the Frenchman.
Bardet said he’d felt strong on Sunday and vowed to keep on attacking. Particularly, he may try to dethrone the three-time champion Briton in the Alps. He has won Tour stages twice there.
He won stage 18 at the 2015 Tour de France, which finished in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. He also won stage 19 on Mont Blanc in 2016.
“I don’t know if I can win it [the Tour], but every which-way I’m going to fight to do so,” he said. “I’ll continue to be very attack-minded.”
Bardet said the mountain stages so far had shown that Froome cannot drop his rivals with a burst of acceleration as he has done in the past, notably his victories in 2013 and 2015.
“I’ve noticed that there are four or five climbers who are practically at the same level,” added Bardet.
“Between us it will be a battle that is as psychological as it is tactical, and also about the ability of each person to absorb tough stages and a fast pace.”
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