French star Romain Bardet has wasted little time following his retirement from road racing in the middle of last season, switching to gravel and, winning the RADL GRVL event in Australia.
Bardet's new Factor Racing-Rapha CC team took honours across the board, with team-mates Cameron Jones and Nicole Frain claiming the men's runner-up spot and the women's victory respectively in the Pro events.
With a 7,000AUD ($4,800/ $3,500) prize purse at stake, the winners took solo victories in what was the third running of the RADL GRVL, held over 127 lumpy kilometres around McLaren Vale, South Australia. Bardet attacked repeatedly during the hilly finale to excavate what was a 54-second winning gap, while Frain's was a day-long solo escape, following an attack in the first 15km.
With the race also representing the inaugural Oceania Gravel Championships, Australia's Frain ran out a double winner, and Jones, from New Zealand, claimed the men's title.
A strong line-up across both men's and women's events also saw the USA's Alexey Vermeulen (3rd) and Ian Boswell (6th) place highly in the former, and Britain's Danni Shrosbree sixth in the women's.
Bardet, who retired in June following a 14-season pro career, became one of France's big Grand Tour hopes following a second-place finish in the 2016 Tour de France. He was never able to go one better and take the top spot in any of the three-week races, though he did win the mountains jersey in 2019 and is a four-time stage winner there.
He retired after last year's Critérium du Dauphiné and only allowed himself a short break before pitching headlong into the gravel scene. He rode seven events in the second half of last year, scoring two Gravel World Series wins, in the Monsterrato in Italy and in France's 66 Degrés Sud.
In a team interview following signing his contract to Factor Racing, Bardet said he would be treating gravel with respect, "otherwise you get your ass kicked every weekend".
Equally, he said he was looking forward to rediscovering the joy in riding, and racing, a bike, following the pressures of the WorldTour.
"I wanted to get the balance back," he said. "I ride bikes for myself first, because I enjoy it. I am really happy to be lining up at the races this year because it’s engaging for me. I am looking forward to travelling to some different places to explore and enjoy the different things that come along when you are riding your bike.”
