"It's as critical as some of the Giro's mountain stages" - INEOS look to use Strade Bianche roads to Egan Bernal's favour

INEOS Grenadiers began the Giro d'Italia with two leaders, but after eight days of racing it seems clear that Egan Bernal has ridden into the most important spot with the British team. Now into the 'Mini Strade Bianche', the British team will be eager to try and make good use of terrain where the Colombian has thrived in the past.

"He started 2025 really well and then he had that crash with the collarbone, which meant that he was fighting to get the confidence back that he had at the Nationals," team DS Zak Dempster shared with Cyclingnews. "He couldn't get it back in Catalunya, because at the same time it was still half-broken. But then on the final climb, finally, he's got a great confidence boost".

Bernal's 7th place at the Volta a Catalunya was nothing to shy away from, but it was very psychologically motivating for him the summit finish to Tagliacozzo on stage 7 where he attacked in the final kilometer and rode to third at the finish - ahead of Primoz Roglic. "It's a climb that suited the Egan of old, so to see him as snappy as he was leaves us in a relatively confident place for the mountain stages."

He enters the final day of the first week outside of the Top10 because of the time-trial, but with a lot of room to improve. "Egan's a pure bike racer and a pure leader, right down to the way he manages the team in terms of letting us know what he needs and when. So with those characteristics, we have everything we need in a stage like tomorrow". 

With Ben Turner and Joshua Tarling as two riders with experience in the classics and huge engines to help him enter the gravel roads well positioned, it will be of great importance in his ambitions to take time on rivals. In the memorable 2021 edition of Strade Bianche, he was third only behind Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe.

"We're hatching plans, hopefully to be in the right place at the right time tomorrow, and then hopefully we can do some damage. Normally, on sterrato at some point there's a big GC acceleration, so we'll just see who's doing what and we make a decision about how we play it".

"It's a stage where you can win some GC time and lose some GC time. It's as critical as some of the Giro's mountain stages in the second and third week, if not more," Dempster concluded.