Tour 2015: Romain Bardet | Ag2r La Mondiale

FACT FILE

Age: 24
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 65kg
WorldTour ranking: 30
Wins in 2015: 1
Career wins: 3
Days racing in 2015: 43
Best Tour GC finish: Sixth (2014)
KM raced in 2015: 6,553
Form rating: +++

The man who has spent the last few years juggling his burgeoning cycling career with studying for a diploma at the Grenoble School of Management had not, until recently, claimed a single WorldTour win. Ag2r, however, saw enough in 2014’s stirring sixth place at the Tour (and a string of other strong results last season — fourth in the Tour of Catalunya, fifth in the Critérium du Dauphiné, 10th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège) to sign up the 24-year-old until 2018.

At this year’s Dauphiné, he showed why he was worth that investment, with an expertly controlled descent off the treacherous Col d’Allos to take victory on stage five. Even more significant is the fact that the win took place at Pra Loup, on a stage that is virtually a carbon copy of what faces the riders on stage 17 of this year’s Tour.

Having pulled away on the taxing descent, Bardet single-handedly held off a Team Sky driven peloton on the 6.2km climb. Even concerted efforts from Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen — which proved too much for Vincenzo Nibali — couldn’t bring Bardet back. He is yet to prove his time trialling credentials, but could be a significant threat.

Key support
The longest-standing French squad remaining in the peloton, Ag2r picked up the team honours at last year’s Tour. Blel Kadri’s solo triumph on stage eight — as GC contenders lined up for the minor places two minutes down the road behind him — was the highlight. There may be some awkward discussions to be had this time round if ex-mountain biker Jean-Christophe Péraud continues his late-career blossoming. His progress took him to second last year, but he will surely fall into line if Bardet is in contention.