Warren Barguil plans to ride the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2022 if his Arkéa-Samsic squad manages to secure wildcard invitations to both races. The Frenchman has won stages at the Tour and the Vuelta a España during his career but he has never competed at the Giro.
Arkéa-Samsic have been invited to every edition of the Tour since 2014, but the French ProTeam has yet to participate at the Giro. Last winter, Nairo Quintana indicated his intention to ride the Corsa Rosa, but organiser RCS Sport overlooked the 2014 winner when it assigned its three discretionary wildcards in February.
With Qhubeka-Assos’s continuation at WorldTour level still uncertain, it remains to be seen how many wildcards Grand Tour organisers will have at their disposal in 2022. Alpecin-Fenix have again secured an automatic invitation to the three GrandTours as the highest placed ProTeam in the UCI rankings.
“This year, I’d really like to ride the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. We haven’t been invited yet but I hope that will be the case,” Barguil told Le Télégramme.
“Obviously, it’s a pity that a team like Qhubeka is in difficulty. But, as they say, one man’s sorrow is another man’s joy.”
Eolo-Kometa, Bardiani-CSF and Androni-Sidermec were the three wildcard at the 2021 Giro, and all three teams will hope to return next year, while the TotalEnergies squad of Peter Sagan might also be among the contenders for an invitation.
Barguil won two stages of the Vuelta in his debut season in 2013 and he placed eighth overall the following year. He has twice finished 10th overall at the Tour, winning two stages and the king of the mountains classification in 2017.
The Breton now has sights trained on completing a full set of Grand Tour stage wins at the Giro.
“I’ve already won on the other Grand Tours, so I’d really like to complete my collection,” Barguil said.
“It’s perhaps my biggest source of motivation from here to the end of my career, it makes me dream. For a rider, it’s something really beautiful. There aren’t many who can say they’ve won on all three Grand Tours. If I could do it, I’d be very proud of myself.”
Barguil won the Tour du Limousin and placed fifth at Flèche Wallonne in 2021, although he was forced to abandon the Tour de France after crashing heavily on stage 13 to Carcassonne. The 30-year-old endured further misfortune in September, when he fractured his pelvis in a training crash, but he has already begun his preparation for 2022.
“I didn’t expect to be back on the back so soon, I’m very happy,” Bargiul said.
“Normally, I should only have started back now. My pelvis fracture healed very well. I was lucky. The team doctor didn’t think I’d be able to recover so quickly.”
