Romain Bardet has never hid the fact that Liege-Bastogne-Liege is one of his favourite races. The AG2R climber was sixth last year after taking second in the U23 edition in 2011.

“It will make the race harder,” Bardet told reporters, ibcluding Cyclingnews, in Liège on Saturday afternoon when asked about the frigid temperatures expected during the race. “The worse the weather is, the more spectacular the race.”

Bardet says he has good form after taking sixth on GC in the Giro del Trentino earlier this week.

“My form is good,” Bardet said. “I did a big block of work in Trentino and put in some good efforts. I was a bit tired afterwards but I’m hopeful 48 hours will be enough to recover. It was enough last year, for me and a few of the other protagonists, so I’m confident.I think I’ve started to get to know this race well now. It’s my fourth participation and I’m not setting off into the unknown. I’m very motivated.”
 

Bardet says that he has had to learn how to ride Liege, and says he now knows that he cannot waste any energy if he wants to be a factor on the Cote de Ans.

“I think experience counts and I’ve improved year by year, bit by bit,” he said. “I’ve stopped making useless efforts so I’ve got more force for the final and the battle on the Côte de Ans. It’s a race that requires patience, and I’ve adapted to that and I’ll wait for the finale.”

The inclusion of a new climb has given others more favourable launch pads to make winning moves, but Bardet says the extra climb may make the race even less attacking and this doesn’t suit him at all.

“I’m worried that the more difficult finale might actually delay the attacking and just postpone the decisive section of the race to the very end. Saint-Nicolas is decisive every year and I hope that’s the case again this year. The new climb will make the finale a lot harder if we go up Saint-Nicolas very fast like in other years, but if people hesitate there, we could just end up with even more riders on the Côte de Ans.”