After looking so good so far at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, Egan Bernal was poised to make a real charge for the podium in the second week of the Italian Grand Tour. Sadly for the INEOS Grenadiers leader however, Bernal has now suffered a major disappointing in the stage 10 individual time trial.
When he crossed the finish line with the 64th fastest time, nearly three minutes down on stage winner Daan Hoole, Bernal looked visibly frustrated. When asked about this in his post-stage interview afterwards, the former Giro d'Italia winner explained what went wrong. "Well, I crashed at the beginning, so I think it’s kind of normal, right?" Bernal asked rhetorically. " But yeah, it was tough, obviously. Same for everyone, and I think it was super slippery. Honestly, I don’t even know what time I did, so I can’t say much."
No stranger to a crash, Bernal has had his career majorly disrupted over recent years by a number of high profile meetings with the tarmac. Whether or not this crash will have any lasting effects for Bernal, who now sits 11th in the GC at 2:33, remains to be seen.
"I just got here, honestly, with the adrenaline still high, so I don’t really feel it yet, but we’ll see. I don’t think it was too bad anyway — the time lost is worse," he reflected, when asked about any cuts and / or bruises he's carrying post-crash. "Well, we’ll see. I think it’s a race where, like today showed, anything can happen. And yeah, as always, it’s day by day. So now it’s about getting to the hotel and thinking about tomorrow. Just taking it one day at a time."
As seen by the fact he's still within touching distance of the top-10, all is not lost for Bernal. Much will rest on his recovery now though.