Former Tour de France polka-dot jersey winner Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) made a successful return to competition at the weekend, racing to 13th place at Saturday`s Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan and finishing 66th at the Boucles de l`Aulne on Sunday. The two French UCI 1.1 events were the French climber`s first races since breaking his pelvis in a crash on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of March. He hopes that he`s now on track for making his team`s eight-rider squad for the Tour de France, which starts in Brussels, Belgium, on July 6. Barguil crashed at over 70kph with a number of other riders, including Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Simon Geschke (CCC Team), on a descent on the famous Montjuic circuit in Barcelona at the Spanish stage race in March.ADVERTISEMENT `I couldn`t have done anything - even if I`d had stabilisers [training wheels] on my bike,` Barguil said at the time of his crash. Providing he gains selection for Arkea-Samsic`s Tour squad, Barguil will be hoping that he can recreate the form he found on home roads at the 2017 race, when he finished 10th overall in Paris, having won two stages and the polka-dot jersey as `king of the mountains`. The now 27-year-old surprised many by promptly signing a contract with French Pro Continental outfit Fortuneo-Samsic for the 2018 season, leaving WorldTour team Sunweb, with whom he`d spent five seasons, winning two stages at the Vuelta a Espaņa in 2013 and finishing eighth overall at the Spanish Grand Tour, ahead of his successes in 2017.
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