'I had nothing' - Romain Bardet at a loss to explain collapse on Stage 16 of the Tour de France
Romain Bardet said he felt «completely lost» during Stage 16 of the Tour de France as his GC ambitions imploded. Bardet came in 3'36" down on the yellow jersey group — tumbling from fourth to ninth in the standings — at the end of the arduous 178.5km run from Carcassonne to Foix, which was completed once again in extreme heat. Ad/> It also contained the treacherous Mur de Peguere — with a max gradient of 18% — and Bardet, who revealed he experienced fever-like symptoms throughout, was simply unable to follow the leaders when the pace was upped by the likes of Tadej Pogacar, who spent most of the day breaking the leaders apart with repeated attacks.
