Romain Bardet: Changing the Focal Point

Panache. Audacious. Cerebral. What is the first word you think of when you think of Romain Bardet? These three must be high on the list, but they hardly tell the whole story. Since most of us only see Romain Bardet, professional cyclist, we typically think of him in his most impressive performances. Daredevil descending in 2015 to take his first stage win of the Tour de France. Or tucked in the middle of his AG2R La Mondiale team massed at the front of the Mont du Chat descent, putting Chris Froome under real pressure in stage 9 of the 2017 Tour. Maybe the image of him and his teammate holding off the peloton against all odds to win stage one and take his first yellow jersey in his last Tour de France in 2024 is seared into your memory.

Bardet has been a constant, calm, articulate presence in the WorldTour peloton for over a decade. A French cyclist who mixed a traditional passion for racing with a modern focus on optimising every possible metric and parameter. It’s an attitude he will now take into the world of gravel racing while competing under the Factor Racing gravel umbrella. Factor could not be happier to reunite with Romain, one of the first professional cyclists who really believed in our bikes.

Back to our roots

Before Factor and its founder, Rob Gitelis, had even sold a bike, it was the sponsor of two major professional teams. First it sponsored ONE Pro Cycling in 2016 and then an opportunity opened up for Factor to sponsor the WorldTour AG2R La Mondiale cycling team in 2017 and 2018. By the end of 2016, Romain Bardet had already won two Tour de France stages and finished 2nd overall in the 2016 edition. 

“The result in 2016 was a bit of a surprise. There were around four or five riders who were more or less on the same level, fighting for the podium,” Romain explained. “In 2016, we didn’t expect to perform at such a high level, and we knew it was something that we would have to build on. I was 25 and had good teammates, we knew that we would need to have some good materials if we wanted to step up and keep improving.”

Having seen Factors already being raced by ONE Pro Cycling, and recognizing this was a brand built around technological innovation, Romain was excited to have the bikes for the team.  

“We were super pumped when we heard about Factor. They were already sponsoring the ONE Cycling team and they were super looking bikes,” he explained. “For me, I was amazed with the innovation. Already in December of 2016, I was in the wind tunnel, where we met to test my position on the time trial bike, because I always knew that was the biggest weakness of mine. And we already had a plan; we knew that it was something we would have to improve.”

Innovation and far-thinking technical developments are one thing. But what set Factor apart in the team’s eyes was how present it was. 

“Rob (Gitelis) was always there. Training camps, after the ride, ready to hear feedback,” Romain said. “You could feel the engineering spirit behind the team. He was always there to get feedback. I don’t know how he managed to do everything, but he was flying to the camps to get feedback, then flying back to Taiwan to make the small changes we’d request on the bikes, and then he’d deliver the bikes within a few days or a week maybe. For us, it was really a game changer in the way we approached materials.”

Protégez votre petit jardin

Being a professional athlete, especially a professional cyclist, can be an all-consuming profession. Perhaps in previous decades, pro cyclists could count on several weeks or even months where they could relax, eat normal food, go out with friends and generally reset their mental clocks. That is less and less the case. To be a pro cyclist, you always have to be “on”.

It can be exhausting, even more so for the top riders with real responsibilities to bring in the results for their teams. “You can’t imagine when you are a pro, when you are trying to compete at the highest level, how much pressure comes with this,” Romain explained. “During the winter every year you have your training plan: on a certain day you have certain hours to do with a certain intensity. You have a lot of stress, checking the weather forecast and imagining how you are going to get the job done. So, it’s easy to lose your love of cycling because you lose a bit of the freedom that comes with just riding your bike.”

Some riders have trouble finding ways to counterbalance this pressure. As one of the top French general classification riders of his era, Romain Bardet certainly understands this pressure. And he has systematically worked to alleviate it for himself.

“I was very committed to my education. I studied contract law and then earned a master’s in management via correspondence while racing in the WorldTour. My parents wanted me to have something always on my side away from professional cycling,” he explained.

“But my identity has certainly evolved. You present an image to the outside world, but it was also important for me to cultivate a personal image only for myself and those closest to me. To cultivate my own little private garden, not just for my time as a professional cyclist, but also for the years to come. And I think that was important as a way to build the base for the person I will be after my cycling career.”

Getting the balance back

Having a sport that demands so much every day from its athletes often results in lives that are wildly out of balance. Some people are predicting careers will be much shorter as a result. Or maybe, like Romain, pro cyclists will start looking for new ways to practice their sport without having to give up so much of who they are as people.

“I believe I evolved a lot in the final years of my career. Not just in the sense of my goals and objectives, but also in my motivation,” Romain explained. “I really like to be at the front of the race every single day, so when I started to face the reality that to fight for a grand tour podium, which had been the main aim in my career, when that was no longer really possible, then the whole point of continuing my career was a bit gone.”

But what never disappeared was his love for being on his bike. “I have been retired about 6 months now, but my life has not changed fundamentally. Perhaps now I organize my days slightly differently, but fundamentally, I work to establish a good base. Because I am coming to gravel but am treating it with respect for sure. You have to, otherwise you get your ass kicked every weekend.”

No longer required to follow a coach's training plan, Romain is still committed to training and getting the maximum out of himself. He’s just doing it with a little more soul and less outside pressure. “The focal point has sort of changed. I still like to ride a lot, but I can’t now go along with any training plan. I go with the flow. I know I have to push myself on some days if I want to be good, but I also have a much more balanced life,” Romain explained. “I’m still training between 15 and 25 hours a week depending on the travel schedule and all the other stuff you have to do. Racing gravel, the demands are a bit different, but I like it.  And I find with gravel, I can really mix the best of every area.”

Making use of everything he has learned in 15 years as a pro, Romain is committed to translating that into gravel racing, with all its different demands and varied opportunities.

“I respect myself as a human being trying to have a healthy life, so I don’t want to lose this lifestyle just because I kinda lost the purpose, you know, being good and performing well at the WorldTour level,” Romain said. “I wanted to get the balance back. I ride bikes for myself first, because I enjoy it. I am really happy to be lining up at the races this year because it’s engaging for me. I am looking forward to travelling to some different places to explore and enjoy the different things that come along when you are riding your bike.”

The human connection

There are a lot of opinions around what the spirit of gravel is really all about. For Romain, he’s emphasising the human connection and finding the joy of the bike again. “Now for my time after my WT career, I think it is also about the links you have with people,” he said.  

“I have this year, where I can choose the sponsors, the partners, I would really say the people I want to work with, and that is such a privilege. I never made public that I wanted to keep racing on gravel. It’s just after the conversation I had with Rob and Factor that I would like to ride gravel in 2026. And it is that trust and loyalty with people that you meet along the way that makes things happen.” 

After a decade and a half of racing at the top level, often with the weight of France’s Tour hopes on his shoulders, Romain Bardet could be forgiven for wanting to remove himself entirely from the sport, at least for a while. But that has not been his reaction. Anyone who remembers how brashly he raced, how fearlessly he descended, how much he just seemed to love attacking, winning à la pédale, it won’t be any surprise that he has been able to slip seamlessly into the madness of gravel racing. In late 2025, he even secured a couple prestigious victories in his first attempts. It’s not for glory. It’s for the love of the bike.

“I think I will splice the picture now with gravel, because there is no better feeling in the world than waking up in the morning and having a file downloaded with a new path to follow, going out on your bike to discover a new place. I really like it. It’s just about the pure enjoyment of cycling without all the stress.”

For 2026, Romain will be riding the full line-up of Factor bikes, focusing on the gravel platform which will include the OSTRO Gravel and ALUTO. Using his years of experience at the professional level, he will be providing feedback on current products as well as prototypes throughout the year. As with all Factor Racing athletes, his role as product tester is at least as valuable to the brand as his results as a competitor.

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