The early attack stays away at #ParisNice while the GC riders sprinted it out for the remaining places. @Eganbernal put in a strong effort to finish fifth on the day - moving him up to sixth overall, with @_rccarlos close behind in 10th 💪
Fifth place at Mont Brouilly gives Egan Bernal "extra motivation" ahead of key Paris-Nice days
CyclingThursday, 07 March 2024 at 12:10
Egan Bernal is on great form, perhaps the best since his crash over two years ago that almost cost him his life. The INEOS Grenadiers rider has performed quite strongly at Mont Brouilly yesterday in Paris-Nice, and is very much within contention for the final podium.
“It was a good job. It was a perfect job by the guys. The team's performance was perfect. It was super hard, that's for sure," Bernal told Cyclism'Actu. On a difficult day with plenty climbs, Santiago Buitrago and Luke Plapp took advantage of the conservative racing that was in the mind of a few GC contenders to go clear of the peloton in the penultimate day and bring in great benefits. Behind, INEOS Grenadiers led the chase to the duo behind before the final ascent.
Bernal was sitting 20 seconds away from the yellow jersey, in 10th position. The British team pulled the group along, and Bernal was third out of the GC riders, only behind Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose who got a small gap towards the finish line. "In the end, it was only 3 kilometers. And there weren't many gaps on the climb. But I think we should be happy with our performance. It gives us extra motivation for the next few days," he says.
Bernal climbed to sixth in the overall classification and is now 40 seconds away from new race leader Luke Plapp, but the race is still wide open with a potential freezing summit finish in Auron this Saturday, a tough multi-climb stage on Sunday into Nice and two more days of potential traps in the peloton over the coming two days of racing. With Carlos Rodríguez besides him, INEOS have the potential to try and flip the GC around.
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