Protected: Video: Egan Bernal – A Road To A Bright Future
Egan Bernal grew up at altitude and won the Tour de France on the highest mountain passes, but he learned to ride in the forests around his hometown of Zipaquira, 42 kilometers north of Bogota.
What’s the story behind this talented young cyclist? Watch our interview, at the end of this article, with the young Colombian of Team INEOS only seven months before he was crowned the overall winner of the 2019 edition of the Tour de France.
Egan Bernal’s first bicycle was yellow, a symbolic choice given that he has become the first Colombian, and the youngest rider of any nationality since 1909, to win the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
As a child, Bernal took up cross-country mountain biking and certainly didn’t expect to win the Tour de France one day. In fact, he wanted to quit cycling to become a journalist, and he actually began coursework for a degree. But ultimately, thanks partly to the influence of his father, who was also a cyclist, he decided that cycling was to be his vocation.
He celebrated his first successes on a mountain bike with medals at the cross-country world championships in 2014 and 2015. His solid results then led him to Gianni Savio’s Team Androni Giocattoli in Italy, where he spent two successful years, with several good placements in his first year and overall victory at the Under-23 Tour de l’Avenir in 2017.
After his first two pro seasons in Italy, Bernal signed a five-year contract with Dave Brailsford, who had spotted the young Colombian’s talent.
A new superstar was born in 2018, as Bernal burst onto the WorldTour scene, with overall victories at Colombia Oro y Paz and the Tour of California on his list of achievements. He also played a crucial role in Geraint Thomas’s Tour de France victory.
Bernal’s progress continued through the 2019 spring campaign, and he won Paris-Nice before a broken collarbone during training put a stop to his GC dreams at the Giro d’Italia.
After a successful surgery, Bernal was back on the bike after only two weeks, preparing himself for the upcoming races. The first race, the test of his recovery, was the Tour de Suisse, where he was co-favorite with his teammate Geraint Thomas, who saw his preparation for the Tour hampered by a crash that forced him to abandon. Bernal shone, though, and he took the leader’s jersey on stage 6, followed by a win atop St. Gotthard Pass the next day and a powerful time-trial performance on stage 8 before wrapping up the overall victory.
With his first Tour de France win, Bernal has already capped off a stellar season, but he is also eyeing new races after a well-deserved “holiday.
What’s the story behind this talented young cyclist? Watch our interview only seven months before he was crowned the overall winner of the 2019 edition of the Tour de France.
00:13 Your first bike, your first dream
00:46 How did you get into cycling?
01:15 Why do Colombians love cycling?
02:14 Will you racing the Tour of Colombia?
02:40 When did you realize that you were a talented cyclist?
03:47 Have you ever dreamed about a Grand Tour victory?
04:43 What’s your favorite meal?
05:04 What would you be doing if you weren’t racing your bike?
06:02 What’s your favorite climb?
06:54 Riding with fans: how do you manage it?
07:26 What’s your favorite Castelli product and why?
07:39 How do you feel when you are in the zone?
09:20 Have you ever tried to be the team bus DJ?
Photo | GettySport, Team INEOS. Video | Castelli, December, 2018.