Egan Bernal impressed on his comeback from his broken collarbone at the Clásica Jaén, taking a significant step forward at the Volta a Catalunya.
The Colombian finished seventh overall, with no extra racing needed before his likely participation in the Giro d'Italia in May. Bernal is expected to return to Colombia and train at altitude before heading to the Giro start in Albania, on Friday May 9.
Ineos Grenadiers management confirmed before the final stage that the Colombian and the team were left without one key reference point after the third and toughest day in the mountains on stage 6 was neutralised. However Bernal confirmed that he had not lost too much on the performance side in what was a challenging first race back after his crash in mid-February.
"He was hoping for a bit more on those two first mountain stages and stage 6 was a important test that finally we weren't able to see. I think we can still take confidence from it, though for sure without that test there's still going to be a little bit of wondering in the mind," sports director Zak Dempster told Cyclingnews on the last day of the race.
"But we just have to continue the process, it is what it is, we still have full confidence, that's for sure."
Asked if he would be doing more racing prior to the Giro as a result of missing out on that high mountains stage, Dempster said, "No. The plan is to get back to training and we just continue with the current plan."
Collarbone fractures can vary enormously in their complexity, and Dempster agreed that Bernal had been fortunate not to have a less straightforward fracture that could have affected his racing return much more drastically. He was in the thick of the action at the Clásica Jaén but crashed out on a gravel road corner.
"If you compared the situation with [Ineos teammate] Carlos" - Rodríguez who broke his collarbone badly in the UAE Tour, running the same time as the Clásica Jaén - "Carlos had a more complicated break that he couldn't get surgery on and it meant that we just had to do the best thing for his health."
"Carlos is rested fully and now he's back on the bike," and although a date has not yet been set for his return to racing, a definitive assessment for when that could be is due mid-April, Dempster says. "But in Egan's case, three days later he was training again."
"I visited Egan in the hospital and he was even pushing to do Ruta" - the Vuelta a Andalucia which began two days after Jaén - "because he said he felt so good. But that's Egan, isn't it?" Dempster said with a grin.
"You've never lucky to break a bone, but in this case it was quick, which is always better."
A definitive decision about the Ineos Grenadiers Giro d'Italia lineup has yet to be made public ut Bernal is on the long list.
Dempster confirmed that the overriding goal for the Colombian after his serious crash in 2022 is "to be back to racing without pain, and that seems like it's solved now."
"If he's got the engine, his recovery's so good that he's still a Grand Tour rider. And getting him back to the point where his body is able to express that in a third week [of a Grand Tour] is the main objective. And if that's in the Giro, the Tour or the Vuelta, then it doesn't really matter."
"So from here we just continue with that process, with the confidence that the changes that have been made have put him in a better place to be where he should be."
Bernal's determination to get back to his best is always clear, Dempster recognised, and a crash like Jaén was certainly never going to stop him for too long.
"It'd be hard to find a more resilient guy," Dempster told Cyclingnews.
"To have him on the team bus - he's a guy that leads through his actions, and he speaks up, he's not afraid to say what he thinks. At the same time, he's more guarded, he's been through a lot and to have him there as an example, not only for the riders but for everyone, is very important and we shouldn't overlook that fact."
In terms of what Bernal can now achieve, and if fighting for Grand Tour success is possible, Dempster says "His ambition is definitely not just to ride around. His ambition is to be there, and that's what he's fighting for and that's what we believe he can do.
"For us, it's a no-brainer that of course the objective is to get back to winning Grand Tours."
