After Egan Bernal’s spectacular summit end journey to Tagliacozzo within the Giro d’Italia, Ineos Grenadiers are ‘hoping to do harm’ with the Colombian on the following huge problem over the strade bianche of Tuscany on Sunday, says sports activities director Zak Dempster.
Ineos Grenadiers’ willpower to make a mark with Bernal on Sunday is partly resulting from his lengthy historical past of success in off-road racing in addition to his sturdy type.
A former double junior MTB World Championships medallist, Bernal additionally completed third in his sole participation in Strade Bianche, again in 2021. However a very powerful references for his off-road capabilities certainly come from the Giro that yr.
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En path to total victory, Bernal not solely gained on an unpaved end at Campo Felice, however on a really comparable off-road stage by Tuscany a number of days later, he concluded the day because the best-placed of all of the GC favourites. Different contenders like Remco Evenepoel, who misplaced over two minutes to Bernal, had far more troublesome rides.
After clinching each Colombian nationwide titles, Bernal was trying to be within the thick of the gravel motion once more in his first European race of 2025, the Clásica de Jaén, however fell late on in the course of the race and broke his collarbone. After a quick restoration, as Dempster identified, his sturdy journey on the Tagliacozzo, ending third, means Bernal has acquired “an excellent confidence enhance”.
“He began 2025 very well after which he had that crash with the collarbone, which meant that he was combating to get the boldness again that he had on the Nationals,” Dempster advised Cyclingnews on the stage 8 begin.
“He could not get it again in Catalunya, as a result of on the identical time it [the collarbone] was nonetheless half-broken. However then on the [Giro stage 7] ultimate climb, lastly, he is acquired an excellent confidence enhance.
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“It is a climb that suited the Egan of previous, so to see him as snappy as he was leaves us in a comparatively assured place for the mountain phases.”
Relating to the Giro d’Italia’s gravel stage, Dempster views Bernal’s possibilities as superb, as a lot due to his persona as a workforce chief, as due to his technical expertise in off-road racing.
“Egan’s a pure bike racer and a pure chief, proper right down to the way in which he manages the workforce by way of letting us know what he wants and when.
“So with these traits, we’ve got every little thing we’d like in a stage like tomorrow.
We’re hatching plans, hopefully to be in the fitting place on the proper time tomorrow, after which hopefully we will do some harm.”
Ineos Grenadiers have achieved some full recons of the Strade stage route, Dempster mentioned, with each sports activities director Imanol Erviti and coach Dario Cioni – each current on the Giro – going to test it out after Tirreno-Adriatico this spring. It isn’t simply concerning the administration and planning, both.
As Dempster says, in relation to off-road one-day type racing, the squad additionally has some severe firepower to assist again Bernal, presently mendacity 14th at 46 seconds behind race chief Primoz Roglič (Purple Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), too.
“Folks overlook how vital Bern Turner has been for us within the Classics, in E3, for instance, he actually put the opposite groups on the again foot. Josh Tarling is a type of up-and-coming Classics stars, too; he is greater than succesful in these kinds of phases. We have a really strong workforce for this.
“Usually, on sterrata in some unspecified time in the future there is a huge GC acceleration, so we’ll simply see who’s doing what and we decide about how we play it.
“If we’re on the entrance foot, there will be allies too, and if we’re on the again foot, there’s at all times somebody there that has the identical pursuits as effectively. However the important thing factor is to get into the primary sector in an excellent place, after which you can begin racing, proper?”
Dempster is categorical, in any case, about how huge a stage the Giro’s encounter with 29 kilometres of off-road en path to the identical end in Siena as is utilized in Strade Bianche will likely be. It isn’t nearly limiting losses, he says, and attempting to remain out of bother, however one the place riders may go on the assault, too.
“It is a stage the place you possibly can win some GC time and lose some GC time,” he insists. “It is as vital as among the Giro’s mountain phases within the second and third week, if no more.”
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