“He’s just a warrior and he lives for the big races” - Geraint Thomas praises Egan Bernal as INEOS leader builds early advantage over Giro d’Italia GC rivals

Egan Bernal already knows what it takes to win the Giro d’Italia, and after two chaotic days in Bulgaria, his Director of Racing Geraint Thomas believes the Colombian is showing again why he remains so dangerous in the biggest races.

The Netcompany INEOS leader moved to third overall after Stage 2, helped by the six bonus seconds he collected at the Red Bull kilometre before the final climb to Veliko Tarnovo. Team-mate Thymen Arensman also took four seconds, giving INEOS a useful early gain on a day that became defined by crashes elsewhere.

Bernal now sits behind Maglia Rosa Guillermo Thomas Silva and Florian Stork in the general classification, but among the major pre-race contenders, he has started strongly. With Adam Yates abandoning after a heavy crash, Santiago Buitrago also out, and Jonas Vingegaard still waiting for the high mountains to arrive, INEOS leave Bulgaria’s second stage with something tangible in hand.

Speaking to Eurosport’s Jens Voigt after the stage, Thomas said the bonus seconds were a welcome reward on a day when avoiding trouble mattered just as much. “Yeah, good. To just get the cheeky little bonus sprint there and time, and Thymen Arensman got four seconds as well, that was nice,” he said. “But obviously it was marred by that big crash. Horrible to see. For us as a team, we were super lucky. We were on the right side of the peloton and our two GC guys were there in the end, so all good.”

Bernal is not another rider trying to prove he can handle the Giro. He has already won it. In 2021, the Colombian took the Maglia Rosa at Campo Felice and never gave it up, adding another stage win in Cortina d’Ampezzo on his way to overall victory. It was his second Grand Tour title after the 2019 Tour de France and remains one of the defining performances of his career.

What came afterwards changed the way every Bernal result is viewed. His life-threatening training crash in Colombia in 2022 left him with multiple serious injuries, including fractures to his vertebra, femur, patella and ribs, as well as chest trauma and a punctured lung.

Since then, the road back has been long. Seventh at the 2025 Giro and second overall at the 2026 Tour of the Alps had already suggested he was moving closer to the front of Grand Tour racing again. His start to this Giro adds another sign.

Asked whether Bernal’s level had surprised INEOS, Thomas pointed first to the mentality behind the comeback. “He’s a fighter,” Thomas said. “He certainly didn’t have the best run-in, and we were thinking, how is he going to be? But he’s just a warrior and he lives for the big races.”

Bernal was not the only positive for INEOS. Arensman also took bonus seconds and finished safely in the reduced front group, keeping both of the team’s GC options well placed after a stage that punished several rivals.

Thomas believes that pairing gives INEOS a useful balance as the race moves towards tougher terrain. “We saw him in the Alps or in Liege, and you knew he was back to good form,” Thomas said of Bernal. “I think he’s still got more to come. Alongside Thymen, I think they complement each other really well, with different strengths. I think that’s good to play off really. We’ll see, but it has been a good, solid start.”

That “solid start” came on one of the most damaging early Giro stages in recent memory. UAE Team Emirates - XRG lost Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler from the race, while Buitrago was also forced out and taken to hospital after the mass crash before the final climb.

For INEOS, the contrast was clear. They avoided the worst of the chaos, gained seconds through Bernal and Arensman, and kept both leaders in position before the race has reached Italy.

“Yeah, definitely,” Thomas said when asked whether it had been a good day. “You take what you can in Grand Tours, as you know. There can be ups and downs. So yeah, good day. Good day.”

The Giro is still only two stages old, but Bernal has already turned survival into opportunity. For a rider with his history in this race, and his history beyond it, that early advantage feels bigger than a handful of seconds.