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Barguil and Bardet France’s best hope for a home win

  • Ron 

With Nacer Bouhanni crashed out and Thibault Pinot out of contention, Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil seem to be France’s best hope for a win in their home tour.

Pinot, who finished third overall in last year’s Tour de France, was tipped as a potential podium finisher but he lost considerable time in the opening block of racing.

Pimot will now target a prestigious stage win in the mountains while Bardet, sixth last year, is still hoping to end up in the top five.

“We struggled in the opening time trial but yesterday (in the fourth stage featuring cobbled sectors) was good for his confidence,” Bardet’s AG2r-La Mondiale team manager Vincent Lavenu told Reuters before the fifth stage started on Wednesday.

Bouhanni, who was targeting stage wins and possibly the green jersey for the points classification, tangled with three team mates 18 kilometres into the 189.5-km ride from Arras.

The best placed, however, is Barguil, who lies in 11th position, 1:19 off the pace.

The Giant-Alpecin rider says he is still only targeting a stage win for now on his Tour debut depsite an impressive start.

“I take it day by day and that’s my strength, I’m not stressed out,” said Barguil, who avoided all the pitfalls of the first four days.

“You can lose time today, tomorrow (because of possible bunch-splitting winds). I said I’d see where I stand after the team time trial (on Sunday).”

The team time trial will be followed by the first rest days and the Tour will then enter the mountains, a favourable terrain for Barguil, who won two Vuelta stages in 2013 and finished the Spanish race in eighth position overall last year.

“I’m enjoying it, it’s cool, I’m here to discover the Tour de France and enjoy it,” said the 23-year-old.

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