Romain Bardet will resume his 2020 season on Saturday at La Route d'Occitanie as part of a strong AG2R La Mondiale lineup that includes Pierre Latour.

Bardet and Latour have been rumored to be on the move from AG2R La Mondiale in recent weeks, but the two Frenchmen will lead the Vincent Lavene-led team in the Tour de France, which begins on August 29.

Le Dauphiné Libéré reports that Latour is likely to join Total Direct Energie, while Bardet is rumored to join Team Sunweb, which lost Tom Dumoulin to Jumbo Visma at the end of 2019.

The four-day La Route d'Occitanie will be Bardet's first step toward La Grande Boucle, where he will cross paths with Tour competitors in the Pyrenees, including Chris Froome (Team Ineos) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ). The key stage will be the third day, climbing the Portes de Valès and the Peyresur pass before a summit finish at the Bay Road pass.

La Route d'Occitanie will be the first time for Bardet since the Route du Sud in 2013 for his Tour de France debut.

After five months of restraint and training camps at COVID-19, every rider is hungry to return to racing, but for now, Bardet is keeping his ambitions in check.

"We just finished a great high-altitude training camp in Val d'Isère, and throughout the two weeks we did a lot of good work and enjoyed the special environment in the high mountains," said Bardet on Monday when AG2R finalized the lineup for the French stage race.

Bardet has not raced since finishing 19th overall in Paris-Nice in March.

The Frenchman had planned to compete in the 2020 Giro d'Italia before focusing on the Tokyo Olympics, but changed his race program after the UCI calendar was altered due to a coronavirus pandemic.

"After being away from racing for so long, I must be looking forward to wearing a bib number for a competition like Route d'Occitanie, which I haven't raced since 2013," Bardet said.

"I know that the entire peloton is eager to get back on track and I will have to expect a pretty aggressive race. Now is not the time to focus on the results, but to get back to the routine with my friends and teammates."

Bardet will run the Mont Ventoux-Denivelle Challenge and the Criterium du Dauphiné before the Tour and was on the podium in 2016 and 2017.

The AG2R La Mondiale selection for La Route d'Occitanie includes several riders from the team's long list for the Tour de France, including Latour, Benoit Cosnefrois, and Alexis Vuillermoz.

Romain Bardet (France), Clément Venturini (France), Mickael Cherrelle (France), Alexis Vuillermoz (France), Tony Gallopin (France), Pierre Latour (France), Benoit Cosnefrois (France)