23/08/2024

Egan Bernal announces Vuelta a Espana raid in 2025: "I hope to complete the trilogy of Grand Tours"

For the first time since his terrible injuries from early 2022, Egan Bernal can speak of a season where he has been once again competitive at the highest level.

No, he didn't win any races in 2024, but that's not even really important. What matters is the journey of the 27-year-old Colombian who went from winning two Grand Tours to almost ending his career at the age of 25, to this year finishing in top-10 of every stage race until Tour de France, with most notable results his 3rd place at Volta a Catalunya and 4th at Tour de Suisse.

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Bernal had already won the Tour de France in 2019 and Giro d'Italia two years later. The Colombian is thus the last Grande Boucle winner from before what will most likely go down as the Pogacar-Vingegaard era. Whether he can even beat the two phenomenons fair and square? Probably unlikely. However in case he finds a Grand Tour without the two participating, maybe it'll work out...

At least that's what the INEOS Grenadiers riders believes in as he makes a rather bold declaration: "I hope to complete the trilogy of Grand Tours, and therefore to win the Vuelta a Espana," claimed Egan Bernal at the press conference to launch the Gran Fondo de Ciclismo de Bogotá.

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Currently, we still lack details of season plans for the biggest GC threats, but it's not unusual that most leaders only add the Vuelta to their plans during the season. However Bernal won't speculate at all and put all his coins at the 2025 Vuelta. "That will be my main goal in 2025, we want to do very well in this race. The team supports me and all the decisions we make will be based on this race," he added in comments relayed by Mundo Ciclistico.

This might be Bernal's last chance to prove himself as a trustworthy classification leader of such a big team INEOS Grenadiers certainly is. With Carlos Rodríguez and Thymen Arensman looking as though they could break onto the Grand Tour podium at any moment, the British team can have only so much patience with their former Colombian gem.