"We have nothing to lose" - Aggressive Egan Bernal continues to light up the 2025 Giro d'Italia on Monte Grappa

Egan Bernal is firmly back among the very strongest riders in the race at the 2025 Giro d'Italia. After some difficult years through injury, the Colombian national champion was vibrant and aggressive throughout stage 15 on Sunday, although ultimately without much tangible reward.

“I felt really good this morning, but once the race started I thought: ‘Oof… this might not be my day,’” Bernal admitted in his post-stage interview afterwards, having crossed the line as part of the Maglia Rosa group in 19th, 29 seconds down on the stage 15 winner, Carlos Verona of Lidl-Trek. “So it was good that the first part of the stage was on flat terrain.”

It was on the Monte Grappa mid-stage that Bernal and the INEOS Grenadiers really came to the fore though, ripping up the race and putting almost all of the Colombian's GC rivals into severe difficulty. “At the beginning of the Monte Grappa climb midway through the stage, the peloton was riding pretty conservatively,” Bernal explained. “So we decided to go for it. I’ve said it before — we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. I think we did everything we could. It was a fun day, but incredibly hard.”

As mentioned, aside from gaining 1:30 on a below-par Primoz Roglic, Bernal didn't manage any real gains on his general classification rivals by the time the dust settled. As a result, the 28-year-old former Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner reaches the final rest day sitting 8th in the GC, 3:38 down on race leader Isaac del Toro and 2:12 off a podium place.