A Quiet Shift
An Intimate Portrait of Romain Bardet
At the twilight of a remarkable career, marked by victories in the world’s greatest cycling races, Romain Bardet embarks on a radical, silent, and profound transformation. Leaving behind the unyielding world of the World Tour, he immerses himself in Gravel, embracing a freer, more instinctive practice to simply rediscover the raw joy of riding.
A Quiet Shift goes beyond a mere sporting trajectory. This film delves into the intimate dimension of a thoughtful man, dedicated and supported by two generations: his father, a steadfast presence and proud witness to his journey, and his son Angus, awakening to the world of cycling. Between legacy and transmission, a powerful narrative of kinship and passion unfolds—captured through painterly images of his private world. A Quiet Shift reveals the discreet personality of a humble man, a champion who quietly aspires to discover a new form of freedom.
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Rediscovering the essence of cycling
There is something suffocating in today’s cycling, something overly ritualized, a narrow framework that reduces bodies and minds to their mere function. Romain Bardet was one of the pioneers of this rigorous, scientific, marginal and, in a certain way, compulsory approach to modern cycling. He was the visionary who, more than anyone else in the 2010s, believed in the value of altitude training camps, meticulously tailored nutrition, the widespread use of power meters, systematic stage recons, and so on. But being a forerunner comes at a hidden cost, veiled by victories and medals that make one forget the essential.
In 14 years among the professionals, Romain Bardet drew deeply on his mental resources, consciously setting aside “those who truly matter” in favor of performance. An egocentric approach that he now breaks away from without regret.
Will I miss putting on a race bib? I don’t know.
Romain Bardet
Gravel, a new beginning
From now on, it is towards his family—and especially his son—that he will refocus his attention as a cyclist. “Becoming a father was uplifting. I realized what truly mattered. There was no way I was going to be the absent father performing on TV.” This shift finds in gravel cycling a fertile ground for fulfillment: fewer constraints, less media exposure, more freedom, more sharing. In fact, Romain has discovered in this muddy offshoot of cycling the nourishing soil that allows him to grow differently. With his son, his family, his friends—as an ordinary man who devoted his life to the bike. But who now simply expects something else from it.