Absent since the end of January, Egan Bernal will return to competition next Tuesday in Italy for the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.
Egan Bernal has decided! The Colombian rider had the choice between Spain and Italy for his return to competition, two months after his fall on the Tour of San Juan which earned him a knee injury. The 26-year-old Colombian will start next Tuesday for Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. This race will take place over five days in the Emilia-Romagna region, with an individual time trial to finish.
Among the riders who have entered their name on the list, we find Cadel Evans in 2008, Louis Mentjies in 2015, Lilian Calméjane in 2017 or Jonas Vingegaard in 2021. This year, Bernal’s main competitors will be Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-Quick Step) , Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech). The plateau is therefore much less high than if he had chosen to participate in the Tour of Catalonia, where we will notably find Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Adam Yates or even Romain Bardet.
A good test before the Tour?
Last week, the boss of the Ineos Grenadiers team, Rod Ellingworth, confided that Egan Bernal was very impatient to return and that he had to be slowed down a bit. “Egan will be back in Europe very soon and hopefully he will be racing at the end of the month. He is obviously a little frustrated but we support him. He had a knee problem, which has nothing to do with the accident last year. Egan is eager to race, but a lot of times with these guys you have to hold him back. »
After this Italian race, Egan Bernal will then perhaps know a little more about his level of form, three months before the Grand Départ of the Tour de France.. The Colombian could participate, as a luxury teammate of Daniel Martinez and Carlos Rodriguez. Seeing him win a second Tour de France this year seems quite unlikely, especially given the form already displayed by Tadej Pogacar or David Gaudu…
