Egan Bernal’s steady progress back towards the highest levels of racing took a dramatic step forward at O Gran Camiño on Friday, finishing second behind Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) on a day when the Dane launched an all-out attack on a short but punishingly steep category 2 climb close to the finish.
When Vingegaard attacked, Bernal was the rider who resisted his move the longest, never taking a turn at the front, but holding his wheel for almost all the upper part of the six-kilometre Alto de San Pedro de Licora.
Finally dropped by the Dane, Bernal was then able to fend off a notably strong Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to claim second on the line, with the two exchanging a brief squeeze of hands in mutual acknowledgment of their joint efforts to contain Vingegaard’s devastating move. The team called Bernal's second place demonstration of "true grit in awful conditions" and "brilliant riding" on their social feeds.
Bernal had already shown considerable progress this season with a bronze medal in the Colombian Road Race Nationals and a powerful performance in the Tour Colombia, claiming fifth overall. But second on a such a brutally-hard day of incessant rain and near-freezing temperatures in the hills of Galicia represented another major step forwards.
When Bernal emerged later from anti-doping control, his face was still drawn with the cold. As the rain began to fall yet again, he was logically looking to head for the warmth of the team bus as quickly as possible.
But he did tell Cyclingnews that he was “muy contento” - very pleased - to have turned in such a strong performance, despite it being very cold. When Vingegaard attacked, even it wasn’t possible to follow, as he succinctly put it, “I tried”.
On a day of mixed fortunes for Ineos Grenadiers, Michal Kwiatkowski was reported to have abandoned the race and Ethan Hayter to have crashed while Carlos Rodriguez lost over five minutes.
Bernal’s performance, at any rate, will have given both the rider himself and the British team a welcome morale boost.
