Applause began to break out in pockets of the press room in Saint Gervais-les-Bains as Romain Bardet neared the finish line on stage 19 of this year’s Tour de France.
The Frenchman, a cable car ride away up the mountain, was on his way to a second career stage victory at the Tour and, more significantly, was hauling himself onto the podium in the process.
Having sprung an opportunistic attack ahead of the final climb, his home media were full of admiration for the panache of it all, but the clapping soon turned to panicked exclamations of disbelief as their man, still some way from the line, sat up, zipped up his jersey, and rolled home, arms aloft.
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"I wanted to enjoy the fervour," was Bardet's response when asked why, with the battle for podium places so tight, he wasn't fighting for every single second. "I just wanted to get away from the calculations that constrain us in the race, and let the emotion take over."
Bardet's race radio wasn't working, so he didn't have time gaps constantly being barked into his ear – a curse to most but a blessing for him. Instead, he made his way up the mountain on feel, feeding off the support of the crowds who'd braved the torrential rain – racing of the most visceral sort.
"It really was vélo à l'instinct," he continued. "That's the kind of riding you want to be doing."
The two sides to Bardet
'Always more, always more, always more'
'My career won't be a failure if I never win the Tour'
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