Asking Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) to compare his current condition to that of 12 months ago is almost an irrelevance - given in February 2016 he was recovering from an appalling crash during a training camp that poleaxed the Breton and five of his teammates. As he tells Cyclingnews with a wry grin, “I’m much better, thanks.”
Last year at this time, Barguil was nursing fractured scaphoid in his wrist, the result of the crash that occurred when a British woman driving on the wrong side of the road in Spain ploughed into Barguil and his teammates. The Frenchman did not start racing until the Volta a Catalunya in late March. He finished 23rd at the Tour de France, but the Vuelta a España did not go well - he was the first rider of the race to abandon with illness. He ended the season on a high note with an eighth place in Il Lombardia - a steady progression in the race after a 47th in 2013, 36th in 2014 and 20th in 2015.
Given that run of results, as well as a 15th place in Amstel Gold Race, 6th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and 9th in La Flèche Wallonne in 2016 - collectively his best results by far in the Ardennes - it’s surely no coincidence that Barguil is focused on improving his Classics performances in 2017, rather than thinking too much about the Grand Tours.
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“For me, these are the first big targets of the season, together with the Vuelta al País Vasco,” Barguil, currently running 12th in the Ruta del Sol, told a small group of reporters. “As for the summer” - where he has refused to confirm or deny rumours that he will be focusing on the stage wins rather than the overall in the Tour - “we’ll see what happens when I get to the Dauphiné
“The Tour has got a good route overall for me,” he added. “OK, there aren’t so many uphill finishes, but there are enough.”
He may, he says, return to the Vuelta a España, where he took two breakthrough stage wins in 2013 - one at the Formigal ski station.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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