Egan Bernal spoke about his Giro d’Italia win and explained what’s left now for him after he already won two grand tours at only 24 years old.
“Winning the Tour de France is every young rider’s dream”, said Bernal. “That was no different for me, but it has turned my whole life upside down. I won the Tour at a very young age (22),and that has had a huge impact, also in Colombia. I didn’t know what to do with my life anymore. I was completely lost, as was the motivation to keep working hard. I trained, but otherwise I was no longer the same Egan as before my Tour victory. This was partly due to a number of changes in my private situation. Later on, back problems were also added. They prevented me from proving what I was worth. But I fought back and now I’m back in the game. I am again at my best level and the hunger and motivation to win even more is great.”
“Last year, after my abandonment in the Tour, I went to a restaurant with Dave Brailsford and had a nice dinner. Stay calm and… have fun, he told me. ‘Indulge yourself, that is your great strength,’ he added. I have listened. And that fun, I found it again in this Giro d’Italia. Even if that was a silly bonus sprint (the sprint against Evenepoel).”
“I have won a Tour and a Giro, so now I mainly want to focus on winning the Vuelta. That’s right. And yes, it is also true that in the past I thought about a job as a journalist, but now I mainly think about a life at home with my animals: my three dogs, a cow and the chickens. Together with my girlfriend and my family. I really don’t need that much to be happy. Happiness is in the small things, certainly not in the material things.”
Asked about a potential Giro-Tour double, the Colombian said: “That’s not for me, I’m afraid. For example, I am now completely empty. I don’t even think I could start in the Tour de France.”
