Romain Bardet ‘a bit disappointed’ after trial: ‘But there’s still a lot to race for’

Romain Bardet started the second and final round of the Giro d’Italia in sixth place in the general classification, but the Frenchman gave up too much time on the clock and dropped two places in the overall standings.

Bardet did not exceed the 40th finishing time on Saturday between Castiglione delle Stiviere and Desenzano del Garda. The climber from DSM-Firmenich PostNL turned out to be 3:24 slower than stage winner Filippo Ganna at the end, but above all he lost a lot of time to his rivals in the general classification. Even Thiemn Arensmann and Filippo Zanna managed to overtake the Frenchman.

Thus, the 33-year-old Bardet occupies eighth place in the general classification after fourteen stages. His deficit to pink jersey wearer Tadej Pogacar now stands at nearly eight minutes. “To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with my performance in the time trial. I was hoping for more,” the honest Bardet said afterwards. website From his team dsm-firmenich PostNL.

“I’ll put that behind me though. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter in this Giro, when we go to the really high mountains. There’s still a lot to race on in the coming stages. “I’m excited to keep fighting with the team,” Bardet isn’t giving up.