The point i was making about Bardet, is that had he been an actual winner, a better GT rider, had he won the Tour and the Giro, that he might have been a lot happier. On the other hand, had Mathieu ben a less gifted rider, who always finished 3rd or 2nd, be it at CX, Road or MTB, that he would probably be a lot less happy. Regardless of them being forced or not by their team.
Hence, the actual level they reach in wichever discipline, will automatically determine how happy they are doing it. As such, you should not compare Mathieu to Bardet, but to Froome or Contador.