Bardet again suffers setback due to rest day: "Romain still did well"

This started as early as the opening weekend, where the Frenchman lost significant time. The day after the first rest day, he joined the breakaway, but at that time, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Decathlon AG2R proved too fast for him. After that stage, Bardet concluded that he always needs a bit of time to get into that rhythm after a rest day, which was confirmed again a week later.

On Sunday, the climber set the pace among the other general classification riders, but on Tuesday, he had to drop back when the peloton was still about thirty riders strong. The help of teammates Gijs Leemreize and Kevin Vermaerke luckily managed to limit the damage somewhat: at the finish, Bardet was 1.19 minutes behind winner Tadej Pogacar, which translates to half a minute relative to his other GC competitors.

Coach Matt Winston gave his account of the day on behalf of dsm-Firmenich PostNL after the race. "It was a really fast day of racing, especially with the flatter start. We looked for the break but then it became clear that some teams wanted to keep it close and that it would be a day for the GC riders."

Because of this, Bardet's domestiques – who saw teammate Julius van den Berg drop out – saved their efforts for the end of the stage, which paid off. "As a group, we were well-positioned as we headed to the climbs in the finale. Unfortunately, Romain had a bad moment on the Passo Pinei but the guys rallied around him really well."

"They showed some great teamwork, kept calm, and brought him back just before the steep part of the last climb," Winston observed. "From there, Romain just pushed hard all the way to the finish to limit the losses, which he did well in comparison to some competitors." Bardet is still in seventh place, but is now most likely feeling the pressure, with Einer Rubio and Filippo Zana breathing down his neck. The gap to the top five (Thymen Arensman and Antonio Tiberi) also widened.