On the 20th stage of the Giro, Egan Bernal was attacked by the surprising Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), but he managed all the climbs and descents very well, relying on an extremely solid team.
The Colombian rider was able to count again on his compatriot Daniel Martinez on the last ascent. Despite the spectacular work of Martinez, Bernal had to settle for second in the stage, losing only 24 seconds to Caruso.
“I’m happy with the result, I think we handled the situation pretty well”, Bernal said. “Finally, we have a little more than 2 minutes of advantage for tomorrow’s time trial (Sunday) so we are in a very good position”.
“We lost a little time in the general classification compared to Caruso, but in the end we can estimate that we were well with in particular two teammates who did a huge job in the final. On the last climb it was really good what my team managed to do. And for tomorrow, I think it’s going to be okay. It was still difficult to manage the situation but it went well”.
“Dani (Martinez) did a huge job, I know he is a great rider, we know him, he is very intelligent in the way of riding. He is a rider who on the last ascent could set the pace. I even think he could have won today (Saturday). Everyone rode well, Jonathan Castroviejo did a huge task. It’s also good for me to be two Colombians like that in the final, it’s something important for me, something important for the team, he’s a friend. It’s good for all Colombia. Tomorrow (Sunday), it will be a last difficult stage, but it could be very good for Colombia,” added Bernal.
“For one thing or another, my Giro preparation didn’t go exactly like I’d initially planned. Tomorrow is a longer time trial but after three weeks, the main thing is to have recovered well and to have the strength left in your legs.
“The time trial isn’t my speciality, so I need to manage my effort tomorrow. But it doesn’t matter whether I win by two minutes or one second. The most important thing is the name on the trophy.”
