Egan Bernal is expected to be part of the Ineos Grenadiers Tour de France squad, making his return to Grand Tour racing for the first time since his life-threatening 2022 accident.
Only late illness or injury would mean Bernal does not travel to Bilbao next week for the Grand Départ.
Tom Pidcock, Carlos Rodriguez, Daniel Martinez, Michał Kwiatkowski and Jonathan Castroviejo are also expected to be part of the British team’s final eight rider selection, alongside Bernal, with Omar Fraile, Luke Rowe, Connor Swift, Jhonatan Narváez and Pavel Sivakov under consideration for the final two places.
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Filippo Ganna will not ride the Tour de France, Tao Geoghegan Hart is still recovering from his Giro d’Italia hip fracture, and Geraint Thomas is set to lead the team at the Vuelta a España.
The Ineos Tour squad will be an eclectic line-up that will target stage victories and test the GC credentials of Pidcock and Rodriguez and help Bernal rediscover his Grand Tour ambitions.
The 26-year-old Colombian last rode a Grand Tour in 2021 when he finished sixth overall at the Vuelta after winning the Giro in the same season. Bernal won the 2019 Tour but then suffered with back pain in the 2020 race.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Bernal will return to the Tour de France, with other evidence backing the news.
Bernal finished 12th overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné and has been training intensely in the hills above Montecarlo since then. He hinted he is set to ride the Tour after finishing visiting the podium on the final day of the Dauphiné after Ineos Grenadiers won the team prize.
“First podium in a long long time, happy and excited to finish the Dauphiné and have done a good workout block for the body. Now the question is... What's next??” Bernal posted cryptically on Instagram.
Bernal missed most of last season after sustaining severe injuries in an horrific training crash into a stationary bus at 60 kph in January 2022. He made a rapid recovery from his injuries but a full return to form needed long and his 2023 campaign has also been blighted by injury and ill fortune.
He abandoned the Vuelta a San Juan with a knee injury, and he was later forced out of the Volta a Catalunya by a crash on the penultimate day. Bernal went on to place eighth overall at both the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Hongrie but crashed hard on the opening stage.
Despite all his setbacks, Bernal has continued to believe he can make a successful comeback.
“There's something special about high mountain stages, right?” Bernal wrote on Instagram during the Dauphiné.
“They hurt, but once you reach the top of that climb, you realise everything you have done to reach the top. It’s not about numbers, it’s about character.”
