Egan Bernal: Winning the Tour de France ‘like a drug’
Colombian promises to light up the race in his yellow jersey defense this summer.
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Egan Bernal has tasted the good stuff, and he wants more.
“There is nothing above winning a Tour de France, so what follows is winning another Tour de France,” Bernal said this weekend. “It’s like a drug. Once you’ve tasted it, you get it you want more, always more, you never have enough.”
Bernal has shown his ruthless ambition in the past, most notably this spring when he made defiant comments about not sacrificing his own ambitions to work for teammates when he defends his title this summer. And it’s not just a second-straight Tour de France title occupying Bernal’s mind, but many more down the line, with the 23-year-old telling France TV Sport that “when you win a Tour, you want to win a second, then a third … and set a record.”
Bernal ruffled the feathers of his Ineos colleagues with his comments this May, something that may have played into Chris Froome’s rumored intentions to leave the team. At present, it seems that Froome will be racing in Ineos colors at this year’s Grande Boucle, meaning team leadership duties will – on paper – be shared between himself, Bernal, and Geraint Thomas.
No matter who the team leader is and what the dynamics are within the Team Ineos bus this summer, Bernal is hoping to light up what will be his third Tour start.
“I will make the show that the public expects and be up to the race,” he said. “I will give the best of myself, the best of Egan Bernal.”
Bernal is expecting to be headed to Europe from his hometown Zipaquirá on July 19 before racing Route d’Occitane, Tour de l’Ain and Critérium du Dauphiné in the build-up toward the Tour‘s Grand Départ on August 29 in Nice, France.