Going into the Criterium du Dauphiné, Romain Bardet was highly ambitious but he got his race off to a bad start when he lost time in the first mountain stage. Since then he has found better legs and after finishing fourth among the GC riders in the queen stage, he was reassured.

For Ag2r-La Mondiale, the Criterium du Dauphiné is a lot more than just preparation as it is held in their home region and so team leader Romain Bardet had a lot of pressure on his shoulders. In the first mountain stage he failed to live up to the expectations but since then he has become better and better,

In stage 4 he made a late attack to take back around 30 seconds and today he proved that he is now fully on par with the best riders in the race when he finished fourth among the GC riders in the queen stage. As a consequence he moved into 7th overall and the result was an important confidence boost after doubts had started to set in.

“Since Monday I have been looking forward to doing this climb," he said. "I was not in a good shape earlier this week and I was under pressure as the days passed but it’s getting better and better.

"I’m really happy because it rewards the work of all my teammates. At the foot of the last climb I was far back in the pack and I asked Mikael (Cherel) to help me to be well-positioned and he made a great effort to put in the ten first riders of the bunch. After that, I just had to stay behind the good wheels as long as possible.

"Mikael, (manager) Vincent (Lavenu) and the whole team placed their trust in me to be the team’s leader in this race and it means a lot because the Dauphiné is the most important race for our team after the Tour de France. Today, I’m pleased to be up there."