Egan Bernal: in Europe they are crying out for him to run the Tour de France, analysis

“We are still not sure what big turn he wants to make, but you can see all the steps he has taken. We'll see which grand return best suits him and the team,” Cummings said.

Well then, Bernal He was fifth in the National Road Championship, third in O Great Way, face to face with Jonas Vingegaard, seventh in Paris-Nice and third in the Vuelta a Catalunya, his first podium in the World Tour since May 30, 2019, when he was the champion of the Giro d'Italia.

From the previous results it is that Bernal has everything to be one of the runners chosen for the Tour, a competition in which the British cast has ready Carlos Rodríguez and Geraint Thomas, The latter will also do the Giro d'Italia, but not the rest of his teammates.

EL TIEMPO consulted three experts, Stefano Garzelli, Alessandro Petacchi and Johan Bruyneel, who agree that the runner from Zipaquirá, Cundinamarca, does not have to be absent from the most important event in stage races.

“I have seen it well. Two years have passed and he looks very recovered. Last year it was difficult for him and we have already seen Egan in good shape, he is not the one who won the Tour or the Giro, but he is on the right track,” said Garzelli, 2000 Giro d'Italia champion.

And he added: “Last year I met him. I saw it and just being at the start of the Tour I was very happy. Run calmly, relaxed. He has nothing to prove and when that happens that is when he performs the most.”

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The Italian, today a radio and television commentator, goes much further and throws everything in his favor. “Egan has to be the leader of Ineos in the Tour. The team is going through a difficult time, it is not Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins or Geraint Thomas, That's why I think he'll be ready. I see who is there and Egan It must be the first,” Garzelli declared.

“Pogacar is the favorite and will race the Giro first. Then I see cyclists more or less the same as the Yates, Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, and in that group is Bernal, who can fight for the podium,” he said.

Petacchi He is much more cautious, although he agreed with his compatriot that Bernal has done well this season to go to the Tour. “Ineos will have it. I don't know why they haven't said it. We
don't know the programs, but I could do the Tour, it has all the conditions for that, but I go further, the one who has to go for the general classification is Egan. Rodríguez was fifth and can go with him. They will focus everything on the Spanish, but the Colombian has something to respond with,” commented the former sprinter.

For Petacchi, there are not many runners it has Ineos to fight and in the rest of the teams, since those who will fight for the title are counted on the fingers of one hand and that opens options for Bernal.

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“It is clear that Pogacar and Roglic They are above the others, but the rest can go to fight for a 'Top' 5 or a 'Top' 10. Egan may have the option of appearing in the general classification, without a doubt,” he stated.

Bryuneel It's more analytical. It has the seal of the coach, the strategist and warns that Ineos must take advantage of the condition that he has shown Egan Bernal in the current season.

“I see it in the Tour. If not, I don't know what decision they are going to make at Ineos. Maybe he won't go so that he has the option of going to the Vuelta, but there is time for that and he should be in the Tour. He has already shown that he returned to the 'terrestrial' group, that group in which runners are after Pogacar, Vingegaard and Roglic”Bruyneel specified.

For the coach, the fact that Ineos does not have a defined leader and that Egan is going through a good moment and can improve is the ideal position to take a chance on him. “I have no doubt that Bernal will be in the 'Top' 10 at the end of the race, if something strange doesn't happen. I dare to put it within five. Rodríguez is a good runner, he was already 'Top' 5, but Egan is back and we should expect much more from him. He still needs to recover something after the strong stages, but he is not the best Egan we will see, he will be better,” he said.