The Colombian Egan Bernalwho lost by 3.21 minutes in the first Pyrenean stage of the Tour, confirmed that he was close to giving up when the favorites lost their wheel, but the team encouraged him to continue and he limited his losses at the finish line.
“I was suffering, it was a very difficult stage and one of the first I did in the Tour de FranceI’m close too. A very difficult stage from the beginning, no flat meter, all day up and down, very difficult, the average number of watts, and the force that moves is high”, assures the Ineos cyclist, who he is now. 20th overall, 4 minutes behind the leader, Australian Jai Hindley.
Bernal, who returned to the Tour after a serious accident he suffered in 2022, which almost cost him the race, acknowledged that the first contact in the high mountains showed that he was not in a position to compete for a general which he won. 2019.
“I’m not at the best level but I’m giving it my all. The team gave me up at the end when I fell out of the group, it could have been worse, although I lost a lot,” he said.
“When I was off the hook, he wanted to give up on me and the team told me to keep pushing, that the Journey is very long. The teammates did a good job, and Carlitos (Rodríguez) and Tom (Pidcock ) is at the top. It’s good to have people in all positions,” he said.
Bernal will now talk to those responsible for Ineos to determine what the goals are for the rest of the Tour. “I don’t think that with this advantage they will let me get into a break, I would have to lose more time,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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