INEOS believe it "would be unfair" to put expectations on Egan Bernal

Egan Bernal has had a very difficult last 13 months, and his recovery is still put into question. The Colombian looked to be on the right path at the Vuelta a San Juan, but a recent injury has been a meaningful setback which has already affected his planned schedule.

"Dani is our main focus for the Tour at the moment," Ineos Grenadiers' INEOS' principal Rod Ellingworth said in an interview with Cyclingnews. "With Egan, I'm not putting any expectations on him at all. I think that would be unfair. He will have his own expectations because that's how driven he is. But you can't say anything about the Tour yet. It's totally open."

Alongside Carlos Rodríguez, both Colombians are set to have a leading role at the Tour de France if all goes right. However, as Martínez conquered the Volta ao Algarve, Egan Bernal stayed in Colombia as he was unable to make the trip over to Europe to race the Vuelta a Andalucia where he was to face Tadej Pogacar and Enric Mas. Bernal crashed on the opening day of the Argentinian race, and abandoned in the last with a knee injury.

"You can't fault what he has done. It's pretty phenomenal where he is. He sends me videos and updates of what he's doing in training and he couldn't be doing any more, to be honest. We're running with him, giving him every opportunity, backing him 100%," Ellingworth continued.

However, he believes this is a new injury, and not a continuation of his long-standing recovery process: "This little issue is nothing at all to do with last year. It's just some bruising around the knee. We just don't want to take any risks with him."

"He's frustrated, he's desperate to race. But you've got to be strong with these guys because they always want to push. Last year, Egan wanted to come back earlier but we held him back. Sometimes you have to hold them back," he admits.

Paris-Nice was the next race in the 26-year old's schedule, however at the time being it is an unknown whether Bernal will return to the race he's won in the past in 2019 - months before his breakthrough Tour de France win.

Teammate Daniel Martínez commented himself: "Egan is recovering from his knee injury but he's a great pro and will come out well. There's a long road to the Tour, with many races, and anything can happen. Egan started well in Argentina. Tom is also very good. We go calm, and step by step."