Romain Bardet wants to ride a 'Tour de France à la Geraint Thomas'

Romain Bardet (right) alongside Geraint Thomas at the 2022 Tour de France
Romain Bardet (right) alongside Geraint Thomas at the 2022 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)

Romain Bardet will return to the Tour de France in 2023. Granted, he was there last year, and there in 2020, but you'd have to go back to 2019 for the last time his heart was truly in it. This year, he returns refreshed, focused, and wanting to "empty" himself on home roads.

But he also returns realistic. Runner-up in 2016 and again on the podium in 2017, Bardet was once the biggest threat to the Chris Froome era and the most likely successor to Bernard Hinault as the long-awaited home winner of the Tour. 

Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.