He may be due to retire from road racing in less than three months and he may not have raced since the beginning of March, but you wouldn't know either of those things from how Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) performed in the finale of stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps.
The Frenchman made a long-awaited return to racing on Monday after a shoulder injury sustained in the Volta ao Algarve put him on the sidelines for much of the early season, but wasted no time in getting back into the action.
Thanks to a lead-out from teammate Max Poole – who's returning from an injury of his own – Bardet was able to climb to fourth in San Lorenzo Dorsino, not far off winner Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and ahead of many of the race's big favourites.
"For the first day back, it's quite okay," the understated Bardet told Cyclingnews at the finish.
The final push from Poole, after the pair positioned themselves well for the whole finale, gave Bardet a chance to contest for the win, though he admitted he still has some room to improve – this is only day one back in the peloton, after all.
"It's pretty good, but it's true that I was missing a bit of punch," he said. "I was happy that together with Max we were up in the front."
Though Bardet took a good result on Monday, the tough opening stage in Italy was no easy way to return to racing, but it definitely offers promising signs for the week to come, and goals further down the line.
"For me, it's a bit of a shock, because I haven't been racing [stage races] since mid-February, so I hope I can step up during the week," he said.
The Frenchman sits fourth on GC, 10 seconds off the Tour of the Alps lead due to bonus seconds, but ahead of some overall contenders who faltered in the punchy finale.
It was little surprise to see Poole as the rider shepherding Bardet towards the finish, and then taking eighth on the stage himself.
The Brit has risen through the ranks with Picnic-PostNL often by riding in Bardet's shadow, and the pair have already completed two training camps together this year as they build towards the Giro d'Italia.
"He's still in really good shape, maybe even the best shape he's been in," Poole had told Cyclingnews ahead of stage 1. "I think that says something about the level of racing nowadays."
Poole is also coming back from an injury and missed races – he broke his collarbone in Strade Bianche at the start of March – so the Tour of the Alps is something of a test for both him and Bardet in the lead-in to the Giro d'Italia, but that doesn't mean they're not ambitious here too.
"Hopefully we'll have a bit of a two-pronged attack with me and Romain. I think it will be quite open," Poole said of the team's ambitions for the week. "It's nice to be back racing after all this time, and I'll try and get stuck in."
