"I haven't given up in 5 years, I'm not going to give up here for one day" - Egan Bernal promises to keep fighting for Giro d'Italia success

Egan Bernal crossed the finish line in 11th position in stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia 2025 and was one of the best among the favorites for the final general classification. He cut 15 seconds off Isaac del Toro and is now sixth, 3:23 behind the maglia rosa and 2:52 behind Richard Carapaz on the provisional podium.

But it was a horrible start of the day for INEOS Grenadiers, who saw Joshua Tarling crash out of the race, Thymen Arensman went down in the first kilometers, and then Bernal himself crashed whilst already inside the mountains. But he does not reveal how he crash. "I'd better not even tell you about it because I look bad," he joked in a post-race interview.

It was common knowledge that today would be a crucial day for the overall classification, but it could've ended up a full disaster for INEOS as after Arensman, also Bernal was dropped from the GC group on the penultimate climb of the day. However, he regained his breath and managed to close the gap. On the final climb he didn't look anywhere near as fragile, and held on with his rivals quite well.

"Today the overall changed quite a lot with only one day of high mountains and there are 3 days left so I think tomorrow is the Mortirolo, the day after tomorrow there will be no rest either and then there are 2 brutal days left".

Bernal was actually sixth on the day amongst the GC contenders, and has climbed into the same position in the overall classification. Now the sole leader of INEOS Grenadiers, he continues to show good form and will be one of the main threats for the final days of the race.

And this is not much of an assumption, but his full and clear intention: "The truth is that I still believe, so even though I'm beaten (when it comes to the overall win, ed.) the idea is to keep attacking, keep trying and never give up. I haven't given up in 5 years and I'm not going to give up here for one day".