Opinion: We must continue to be very patient with Egan Bernal

Egan Bernal finished eighth in the Tour de Romandie. It is his best result since he finished sixth in the Vuelta a España 2021. His great performance on the queen stage and on the tough final climb allowed him to finish in the top 10 of the Swiss race and excite his fans.

And it is normal that it excites. Not since he crashed early last year has he looked as good on such a tough climb. He has been able to race very little and has continued to have mishaps, depriving him of having more continuity and being able to find himself in better shape at this point.

But we can't go from black to white in a second. We can't be ruling him out for any relevant result one day and the next believes he can finish in the top 10 at the next Grand Tour he rides.

We have been able to read many Colombian headlines exaggerating what Egan has achieved these days (as we have seen many Spaniards doing the same with Juan Ayuso). You have to be patient with him. The normal thing is that this year he cannot get any great results. If he ends up riding the Tour de France, he will be able to get excited about some break, but to think that he can be at the level of the best riders in the world in 3 weeks is a pipe-dream.

Egan himself, every time he has spoken in recent times, has made it very clear that at the moment his only rival is himself and that everything changed for him after the accident that almost cost him his life. He is in no rush to win, to finish second and 22nd, what he wants is to gradually improve and not feel pressure.

We don't know if he will be at the Bilbao start or if INEOS will be more conservative and he will prefer that he go to the Tour of Spain. One way or another, PATIENCE.