So far, the Giro d'Italia has been largely positive for Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) as he seems to have rediscovered some of his best form, but stage 16 was a challenging day for the Colombian.
Ineos placed a rider in the early break in Josh Tarling, but the Welshman subsequently crashed out of the race, Bernal's second lost teammate after Brandon Rivera. Then, a crash for co-leader Thymen Arensman saw him struggle with knee pain in the finale.
Bernal himself crashed too, and was dropped from the GC group when Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) drew out a small selection on the final climb. However, the Colombian kept pushing hard, and came past several riders to finish 11th on the stage.
"That was a hard day," were Bernal's first words at the finish, not knowing where he'd finished or where he was on GC.
As it turned out, his refusal to relent in the finale saw him ride past leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the finale, limiting his losses to Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Yates to less than a minute and a half.
As a result of his ride, and the number of riders who dropped out of the top 10 on stage 16, Bernal moved to sixth overall, 3:23 off the race lead.
Though he's up placings-wise, he only shaved 15 seconds off his deficit to the maglia rosa. He was dropped by quite a few rivals, but the Colombian was clear that he was not giving up the hope of going for something more in this race.
"Today, a lot changed on the GC with just one day of high mountains, and there's three more to go. I think that tomorrow with the Mortirolo, that's not going to be an easy day either, and then there are two brutal days after, so honestly I still believe," he said.
Bernal and Ineos Grenadiers have taken an aggressive approach in this race so far, and whilst they still want to climb the standings, they're hoping to do that with more of the same, rather than racing more conservatively, or being concerned about what happened on Tuesday.
"The idea is to keep attacking, keep trying, and never give up," Bernal said. "I haven't given up for five years, I'm not going to give up after one day."
One blow to Bernal's ambitions, however, is the loss of not just Tarling – a key player for the early parts of stages, and setting up attacks – but also an injury for Arensman. The pair came to this race as co-leaders, and the Dutch rider was in the top 10 until Tuesday, when he lost 7:14 after struggling with the effects of a crash.
Losing a card to play on the GC is not necessarily a huge problem, and Ineos were expecting the road to make a decision anyway, but a knee injury for Arensman could limit how much he can help Bernal in the mountains.
"There was a little crash. I think there was plenty of time to brake, but some guy just didn't brake and went into the back of me and I landed fully on my knee. The whole stage I was in pain," Arensman told Eurosport at the finish.
He had stuck with Bernal for some time after the crash, but ultimately was cowed by knee pain.
"I think it was just on adrenaline, but then in the end I couldn't bite away the pain any more, and right now my knee is just hurting," he said. "But it is what it is. I tried to fight to the finish and tried to stay close to do something for Egan, but just one rider that doesn't really brake and… well, it is what it is now."
Apart from Arensman, Bernal can look to the likes of Lucas Hamilton and Jonathan Castroviejo as his climbing domestiques in the mountainous days to come.
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our 2025 Giro d'Italia coverage. Our team on the ground will bring you all the breaking news, reports, analysis and more from each and every stage of the Italian Grand Tour. Find out more.
