Pressure high on French riders

French riders struggle to succeed at the Tour de France because of the pressure they're under, according to Romain Bardet.

The 24-year-old earned his first ever Tour stage victory on Thursday after a bold solo break with almost 40km to ride.

Having come into the race with overall hopes, Bardet has had to readjust after losing a lot of time in the first Pyrenean stage at the start of the second week.

Having already twice finished third in stages this year, he finally landed a victory on the 186.5km 18th stanza from Gap to Saint Jean de Maurienne.

That was enough to lift him to 10th overall, and 16sec above Warren Barguil to become the top ranked Frenchman.

But just 12 months after he was third amongst the hosts in finishing sixth overall -- Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot joined champion Vincenzo Nibali on the podium -- Bardet's win has been a rare bright spark for the hosts.

And the AG2R rider says it's tough for Frenchmen to succeed in their home Tour.

"Last year we had an incredible Tour. Of course certain circumstances favoured us (Chris Froome and Alberto Contador crashing out), I won't hide that, but there's a lot of pressure on the French at the Tour," he said.

"To be excellent at the Tour you need to do it over 21 stages. For me it's still a bit early but I hope to be up there one day fighting for the general classification.

"But I'm also enjoying riding the way I am, getting in a lot of breakaways."

Having long written off his overall chances, Bardet said he was surprised to find out he's now in the top 10.

"I haven't yet looked at the standings, I'm surprised to hear I'm in the top 10," said Bardet.

"I was afraid for breakaway because there were some well-placed riders in it and others in the peloton wanting to conserve their places.

"I'm also well placed in the king of the mountains competition now without even trying in that.

"But I don't know what goals I can have in that respect because I'm afraid that tomorrow (Friday) will be a hard day."
Source: AFP