The heavens opened with a vengeance and it rained long and hard just minutes before the curtain went up on Romain Bardet's rest day press conference at the Tour de France on Monday, but the Frenchman insisted that nothing so far, let alone an extremely heavy summer shower, could cast a dampener on his particular parade.
Third overall, having put Chris Froome (Team Sky) under some keenly-felt pressure at the end of the extremely mountainous stage 9, Bardet is currently feeling more than upbeat, he told reporters. In fact, the AG2R rider claimed he had never felt so strong in the first week of the Tour.
"My only concern is that I've not hit top form too early, I want to make the most of this situation," Bardet said, speaking to the press in an open-beamed conference room of a country house hotel on the outskirts of Bergerac. "I'm very pleased with my level, but years of experience make me prudent."
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Bardet's satisfaction was palpable despite his typically measured words and an apparent unwillingness to throw caution to the wind when asked about his chances. He is currently 51 seconds behind Froome.
"I don't know if I can get it," Bardet said when asked if the yellow jersey was an impossible dream. "Either way, I'm working hard to try to get it. That's going to be complicated, Sky are very strong, they've got four riders who can lay down a strong pace in the mountains. I'm keeping my feet on the ground."
In the short-term, the terrain for Bardet trying to wrest yellow from Froome will at least be familiar to him. He has, he said, done a thorough reconnaissance of Peyragudes and the cols which precede it on Thursday's 214-kilometre leg through the Pyrenees, which he described as a 'climbers' marathon.' Together with the following day's short stage to Foix, it is the first half of what Bardet termed an 'intense' back-to-back mountain challenge. He added that he would be on the lookout for unexpected moments to attack, much like his downhill move on stage 9 off the Mont du Chat.
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