Egan Bernal was disappointed after losing third place in the last stage of the Tour de Suisse. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) came back in the individual time trial and beat him to the podium by just ten secondsthus signing a new disappointment that disrupts the team’s plans just a few days before the start of the Tour de France.
“It was difficult. I was hoping to keep the podium in this race, but this is cycling. I had a bad day on the bike,” admitted the Zipaquereño.
Despite the hard blow of falling against Skjelmose, a fourth place in Switzerland is positive for the grande bouclé for which the place is not yet guaranteed. “I did my best, but I feel a little sad, also for the team, because we worked very hard all week for this podium and, in the end, I missed it by 10 seconds, or whatever,” he said.
Egan considers that it was a more than demanding preparation in a race that he had not competed in since he won it in 2019. “It is always a tough race, but I think that in this edition we were going very fast on the climbs. The level was super high and, without a doubt, we did good training for the next races“, said.
Last week it emerged that the Ineos Grenadiers board had not yet decided that Egan Bernal would participate in the Tour de France, where the leader would be the Spanish Carlos Rodríguez.
Egan is clear about his desire and that is why he sent a clear message to those in charge of defining his remaining calendar. “Hopefully it will be the Tour and I think that with the Tour I will be happy,” he said.
New appearance on the World Tour
This result in the Tour de Suisse means a voice of hope for Egan Bernalwho has been having a great season although he still needs to break the victory drought he has accumulated since the 2021 Giro d’Italia.
The balance of the campaign so far is positive: it all started with the podium in the Road Nationals, followed by a fifth place in the general classification of the Tour Colombia. Making his debut in Europe, Bernal finished third in O Gran Camiño and confirmed his great moment with seventh place in Paris-Nice.
In the Tour of Catalonia he was third overall, before making an outstanding performance in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and finishing with a tenth place in the Tour de Romandie, which he also crowned with the team title and the championship in the hands of his partner Carlos Rodríguez.
If you go to the Tour, the role of the ‘young wonder’ for the large bouclé It is not yet completely defined, Well, management hopes to have more data on its performance to give a verdict.
Thinking about Egan Bernal once again being a favorite for the Tour de France title is quite far from the reality that exists at Ineos, although the Colombian cyclist has already taken it upon himself to surpass his own goals.
