A day after he suffered badly in the Vuelta a España and lost all hope of the overall, 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) bounced back with a vengeance on stage 15 to form a hugely active part in the break of the day.
The Colombian star was part of the massive group of 45 that took off early on the long day running through the relentlessly hilly terrain of central Galicia, with more than 3,500 metres of vertical elevation gain.
He then formed part of a group of seven counter-attackers, also containing teammate Magnus Sheffield, that made it across to the day's two leaders, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep).
Bernal was unable to make more than sixth in the final dash for the line, having tried to go clear earlier on in the closing kilometres.
However, as he explained, his role had been to go from distance, letting teammate Sheffield - who crashed in the final corner behind stage winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) - try for the sprint.
Bernal's presence in the break, in any case, constituted exactly the kind of bounceback he needed, 24 hours after he lost nearly 22 minutes on the road to the Farrapona summit finish and any hope of a top placing on GC.
It was also a very different kind of race than the usual overall battle he fights in Grand Tours, Bernal told reporters.
"It was nice to do that and be in a break, something very different," Bernal said. "It was very complicated in a finish like that, and especially with guys like [Mads] Pedersen in the move. So there wasn't so much to do on such a flat last part of the day. "
Bernal nonetheless could be seen testing the water, with his driving attack six kilometres from the finish capable of stretching out the nine-rider leader group, but not quite breaking it.
He then tried it again a couple more times, but with the finish fast approaching and the course, as Bernal said, anything but hilly in the finale, his options shrank rapidly.
"We had Magnus down for the sprints, me to try to get something sooner. But we tried it all the way to the end."
Bernal's participation in the 152-kilometre break of the day, which took nearly 14 minutes on the main peloton, has pushed him back up into 14th overall, 15:42 down on race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). But from hereon to Madrid, success in the Vuelta breakaways - just as in 2023 when he took seventh in a third week mountain stage break behind Remco Evenepoel en route to 55th overall - will likely remain the Colombian's main target.
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