He started the Tour de France as the youngest among the 176 competitors and ended up with many calificándole as the future star of the Sky team, winner of six of the last seven editions of the race.
and is that in addition to concluding in the fifteenth place in the general classification, the Colombian Egan Bernal was a crucial figure in the mountain stages, serving to support his fellow Geraint Thomas, winner of the race, and four-time champion Chris Froome , who finished third on the podium.
Tour de France: What makes the mythical Alpe D'Huez so special, the most famous ascent of cycling
Tour de France: The image showing the scars of the "North Hell" bike
Born 21 years ago in Zipaquirá, north-east of Bogotá, Bernal won the Colombian gold and peace race this year, staying ahead of his compatriot, Nairo Quintana, winner of the Giro D'Italia and the return to Spain.
His triumph on the return to California and his second place in the Vuelta a Romandie ended up convincing the general manager of the Sky team, Dave Brailsford, to include him in the Tour this year and not the next as planned
In the footsteps of Froom
The new winner of the Tour, Thomas, is 32 years old and Froome 33, so Brailsford sees Bernal as the relief figure in the team for the next few years.
"My responsibility as CEO is to look forward two or three seasons ," said Sky chief, quoted by the British daily the Guardian.
"I searched and searched for the pedalist who could be the next Chris Froome, our next leader for the big laps. My choice was Bernal ".
The cruel way in which Chris Froome annihilates his rivals and achieved a forgotten milestone of cycling
Froome himself did not spared in words to praise the performance of the young Colombian.
"Huge thanks to Egan Bernal for what he did ", the Briton said on Twitter after the support he gave him at the nineteenth stage where he helped tow to keep pace with the leaders of the stage. "You have an amazing future ahead of you."
And Bernal not only contributed to this stage with the cause of Froome, but he fought not to keep Thomas isolated, who then went on to lead the leading group to keep marking the pace.
"Party Man "
Two stages earlier he had done a similar job in the so-called Queen of the Tour stage, played between Bagnères-De-Luchon and the Col du Portet, 65 kilometres, and won by his compatriot Quintana.
"He is the man of the party ", he pointed out at that moment Brailsford, alluding to that although they had not been able to take the stage, Thomas had maintained the leadership thanks to the work of Bernal.
"I think it will be a future Tour winner. I really do. I have rarely seen a talent with its ability, with the mental strength of having such an act at such a young age and thus handle the challenges of this race, with everything that has contributed to us "said Brailsford quoted by AFP agency.
"Now you must continue to progress, keeping your feet on the ground," he added.
And also in the future, if you want to win the Tour, Bernal may have to keep in line with other illustrious countrymen like Quintana, who has already been twice in second place in the test classification, and Rigoberto Urán, second in the edition last year.
For the moment, his extraordinary earliness and the fact of being inside a team as dominating as the Sky predict the most vertiginous of the promotions.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario