After opening his season with a couple of outings in the Middle East, Romain Bardet is ready to get stuck into the "serious stuff" this week as he returns to Europe for Paris-Nice.
The Frenchman rode the Tour of Oman last month and backed it up with the Abu Dhabi Tour last week. He finished 6th at the former and 12th at the latter, feeling below his best on the respective summit finishes, but explained that results weren’t high on his priority list.
“I’ve had a good spell in the Middle East - we’ve fulfilled our objectives in getting back into the rhythm of racing, and I’ve been feeling better and better each day,” he told Cyclingnews and L’Equipe on the final day in Abu Dhabi.
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The race started last Thursday, but Bardet was there from Monday, putting himself through his paces with some intense sessions on the Yas Marina F1 circuit, including the morning before the final stage. With three of the four stages flat, and ticked off in relaxed fashion, that sort of workload was needed.
“It’s a shame, the race could be more difficult, I guess,” he said. “You just have one climb, less than 30 minutes full gas – it’s not really enough.
“So it was important to train around it and do some big efforts to sharpen my top-end condition. I’m happy with the work we’ve done here. It’s given me a good base and I can’t wait to get back to Europe for the serious stuff.”
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