Following the announcement that the postponed 2020 Tour de France (opens in new tab) has been rescheduled (opens in new tab) from August 29 to September 20, AG2R La Mondiale (opens in new tab) has quickly confirmed that Romain Bardet (opens in new tab) will not be participating in the originally quickly confirmed that he will participate in La Grande Boucle (if it is eventually held) instead of the scheduled Giro d'Italia.

The coronavirus outbreak has suspended all cycling races until at least July 1, and despite the UCI's attempts to reorganize the calendar, it remains entirely unclear whether competition will resume this season.

However, Bardet told L'Équipe magazine (opens in new tab) that the current contingency plan has the benefit of giving riders a goal.

"It's great news to see that people are thinking about what comes after the crisis, but that doesn't mean there aren't still challenges ahead," Bardet said.

"As a high-level athlete, you need to have goals. It wasn't easy to control my emotions during my recent training and there were mornings when I wasn't sure why I was riding my bike ...... It's not the biggest problem for society right now, but for us it's exciting to have a comeback date and be able to make plans."

Bardet, who finished 15th overall in last year's Tour de France, has chosen to reset his career by building his 2020 campaign around his Giro d'Italia debut and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With these events postponed and the tentative changes to the UCI calendar, he opted to return to the Tour de France rather than miss the September race and wait for a possible Giro d'Italia in the fall.

"Will the Tour de France remain three weeks, there are big questions about its format and the format of the Vuelta, as there will not be room for three Grand Tours in three months. The teams will have to make a choice," Bardet suggested.

"What is clear from these negotiations is that the Tour is the priority in order to save the season. Even if this season is completely unique, I want to race. Even if this season is completely unique, I still want to race.

Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) and Simon Yates (Micheteron-Scott) were also scheduled to compete in the 2020 Giro d'Italia, Bardet said, given the change in La Grande Boucle's position on the calendar, He believes that few Grand Tour contenders would choose to sit out the race.

"Given the stakes, the top leaders of the peloton will definitely participate in the Tour, as will the top 30 or 40 in the world rankings. Bardet added that the world championship road race scheduled for September 27 is another reason for riders to race in the Tour.

"It will be the best preparation."