All that for this ! Three weeks of exhilarating race, with hopes of French final victory, to end with a result that seems sewn of yellow thread for many years: an Ineos (ex-Sky) on the highest step of the podium on the Champs-Élysées . Yes, certainly. But this time, he's not a Brit, and he's neither an old rider (Bradley Wiggins in 2012, Geraint Thomas in 2018) nor a runner out of nowhere (Christopher Froome, in 2013 and 2015 to 2017), but a young talent recognized: Egan Bernal, 22 years and six months, became the first Colombian to win the Tour.
A child from the mountains
This Tour, Bernal won it in the Iseran pass, Friday, on the "roof" of the Tour, at 2,770 m altitude. An altitude that Bernal knows well since he was born in Zipaquira, about thirty kilometers from the capital, Bogota, and whose cathedral, for which his father works, also culminates at over 2,700 m. Young, Bernal hesitates between two professions: that of journalist and that of cyclist. His father, who was very moved in Tignes when he handed the first yellow jersey to his son, convinced him to persevere in the bike ...
Beginnings in mountain biking, an emergence in Italy
His first steps in competition, Bernal mountain biking, where he stands at the juniors, with medals at the cross-country world championships in 2014 or 2015. At the end of 2015, after being noticed on a race with the jersey of a Colombian selection, he is recruited in the Italian team Androni Giocattoli, where he is immediately unanimous, by his results (several places of honor in his first year, victory in 2017 in the Tour de l'Avenir, the flagship event of the riders' calendar under 23), but also by his personality.
"It's a beautiful person," remembers AFP Gianni Savio. "He kept the humility he had when he arrived on our team, he has the pyschic balance of a much older runner." The crush is reciprocal between Italy and Bernal. "My heart is there too, I feel a bit Italian," said the Tour winner, who also speaks the language. "Italy has brought me a lot, I owe a lot to her, I have many friends there, who are like my family, what I miss, the ice cream, the 'Nutella', I want to go back soon. "
The jump at Sky
But probably not right now. For after two first pro seasons in Italy, Bernal joined the Sky team in early 2018, who has just won five of the last six Tours de France, and who made him sign an extension until 2023 at the end of last year. It is also a change of strategy for the overpowering British team. "We knew we had a group of older guys that were good, but we looked very hard for the new generation and decided that it would be Egan," said Dave Brailsford, Ineos team manager. "We fought hard for it and it grew fantastically." Hardly beaten, yes, by buying the last two years of Bernal's contract for 250,000 euros, a derisory sum for a young talent in football but significant in cycling.
In his first season, Bernal impressed all the followers, especially on the Tour de Catalunya survey, where he finished 2nd in the stage-queen behind Alejandro Valverde, before falling violently, then on the Tour de Romandie, where, behind him Primoz Roglic, he signs his first significant podium. He also won the Tour de Californie, before being one of the driving forces behind Geraint Thomas's victory on the Tour, which he finished 16th.
2019, the signs of destiny
But Bernal quickly sublimates this role of luxury teammate. Almost in spite of him. Coming to Paris-Nice to support his team mate Michal Kwiatowski, he showed himself stronger in the mountains and won his first stage race on the World Tour. His year 2019 rocked in March when he suffered a fall in training. He breaks his collarbone and must give up the Tour of Italy, on which Ineos thought to align him as leader. He will do the Tour de France. The sequel is now part of the story. Winner of his test of recovery, the Tour de Suisse, he is a co-favorite with his teammate Geraint Thomas, who sees his preparation disturbed by a fall on the same event.
This may have been the difference between the two Ineos riders, often side by side in the Pyrenees, but separated in the Alps by the repeated attacks of Bernal, in the Galibier then in Iseran. That's how Bernal succeeded where his compatriots Nairo Quintana (2nd in 2013 and 2015) and Rigoberto Uran (2nd in 2017) had failed. "I am very proud to be Colombian, we deserve this Tour, we have had very good cyclists for many years," said the winner of the Tour. His return to Colombia, land of cycling, promises a lot, as the Tour 2020, where it is difficult to see him not wanting to defend his title with (and face to) Christopher Froome, his teammate and absent from this edition of the 2019 Tour.