Romain Bardet responded with a smile at Monday's rest day press conference. Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogachar occupy the top two places as the Tour de France enters the Pyrenees, and they are traveling where no one has reached in the past two weeks.

"No, I don't think so," Bardet replied when asked if he and the other podium contenders could coexist with the top two in the mountains of this Tour.

"No, I don't think so," Bardet said when asked if he and the other podium contenders could coexist with the top two in the mountains of the Tour, "because during the race, when they are accelerating, when they are determined, nobody else can compete with them. It's pretty difficult."

And Bardet has followed them like no one else, doggedly building up his best Tour since 2017, when he finished third overall in the mountains with Chris Froome. in May, the DSM rider was forced to abandon the Giro d'Italia, which he could have won, due to illness, He entered the Tour with the suggestion that a stage win would be the pinnacle of his ambitions.

Instead, after two weeks of racing, Bardet was in fourth place overall, 3:01 behind Vingegaard's yellow jersey but just 18 seconds short of Geraint Thomas' podium. On a critical day leading up to the Granon Pass, Bardet rode aggressively, but his bid for a stage win on the final climb was drowned out by the overwhelming climb of the Vingee-Goal. In the Pyrenees, there seems to be no more room for error.

"We have come a long way and made a big effort to be in such a good position. I wanted to leave every option open in the Tour. In the Alpe d'Huez, I had to lose 20 minutes overall to get into the breakaway group. Still, I want to win a stage here in La Pédère. Still, I'm happy with where I am after the difficulties I had earlier in the season."

Bardet knows that he will have to rely on the jules sans of both Vingegaard and Pogachar to overtake them in the overall standings. Getting on the podium is clearly the ceiling in the final week of this Tour. Even if Bardet has expressed optimism that he can escape their attention and take the stage win. Stage 17 includes Peyragudo, which Bardet won in 2017 by closing the gap to Froome in the final kilometer.

"It wasn't super all day, but I found my chance in the finale, so it's a good memory," Bardet said. 'It's a similar situation here. When Vingegaard and Pogachar accelerate, I am at my limit. But if I fight tough, I might have a chance to win a stage. If I have the energy, I might be able to stay ahead of them. I already attacked in Granon, and maybe my chance for a stage win will come that way."

In addition to withstanding the Pyrenean showdown between Vingegaard and Pogachar, Bardet will also have to face the dual threat of Thomas and Adam Yates of Ineos, who currently sit third and fifth in the overall standings. If Bardet wants to make it to the podium for the third time in as many Tour editions, he will need to gain ground on Thomas before Saturday's final time trial.

"I don't know if I'm happy with the current situation in Paris because the Ineos have two strong options in the top five and they have already won the Tour many times," Bardet said. 'They've already won the Tour so many times. They seem to be in good shape and super stable. I just hope I have the legs to keep up with them."

Bardet and David Gaudou (Groupama-FDJ), currently in eighth place with 4:24 to go, are the French hopefuls in this Tour, and the first overall win since Bernard Hinault in 1985 seemed unlikely before they turned the pedals in anger. But the host nation now risks finishing the entire Tour without a stage win for only the third time in its history and the first time in the 21st century. The last time France won a stage in the Tour was on the first day in 2021, when Julien Alaphilippe won in Landerneau. [It's] hard to go for a stage because there are no punchy stages like Julien Alaphilippe, no serious sprinters like Arnaud Demaret, and me and Gaudet are at the top of the GC," Bardet said. But this is the highest level in cycling, which makes it harder to win. There are still six days left, and I think we have a good chance, but it's also complicated.

"But it's harder to go for GC here than for a stage win. To be in the top seven or eight in the Tour is underrated; you have to do your best in 21 stages, not just win one out of 21 stages."

The last time France missed a stage win in the entire Tour was in 1999, when anti-doping was tightened in the aftermath of the Festina affair and French riders were victims of cyclisme a de vitesse. 20 years later, the ghost of two-speed cycling s ghosts have not disappeared. Last year, Bardet, along with fellow MPCC members Thibault Pinot and Guillaume Martin, expressed concern about the therapeutic use exemption and the abuse of the gray area of ketones.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, with my team line. Right now, I don't care what other players are doing," Bardet said Monday. Cycling is hard enough as it is. I don't want to lose my mind thinking about these other things, especially during the third week of the Tour. We've been talking about this for a few years now, and I don't know how we've evolved since then. I just want to keep my focus on what I'm doing."