Ineos Grenadiers leaders Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman came away from stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia with nothing lost, but ultimately little gained, despite attempting to make the race hard on multiple occasions.
After losing time on some of their rivals on stage 14, Ineos were one of the teams who were a candidate to try and shake things up once more on the Monte Grappa on Sunday, and they lived up to expectation, with Bernal attacking near the top of the climb.
The Colombian got away in a select group of contenders, and they gained a small gap over the top, but were closed down by the chasing group, led by UAE Team Emirates, despite maglia rosa Isaac del Toro being in front.
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Ineos paced once more on the last climb to Dori, managing to distance Primož Roglič, who dropped five places on GC – meaning Bernal and Arensman both climbed one spot – but otherwise all the overall contenders finished together.
Despite not taking back any time, Bernal reflected positively on the day after a crash on Saturday.
"Honestly I wasn't super great in the morning, and actually when the race started I was like 'today for sure is not going to be my day', but then I think it was good that the first part was totally flat and I don't know, maybe the body changed a little bit," he said at the finish.
"In the first part of the climb [Monte Grappa] we were a bit conservative, but then we decided to move the race because, as I've said a couple of times, we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. We did what we did, and it was a fun day, but super hard racing."
When Bernal got away, it looked like they had a good group, with Richard Carapaz, Derek Gee and Isaac del Toro, plus Arensman bridging across, but despite their best efforts, a chasing UAE brought it back on the descent.
"I just tried to go full in Monte Grappa, and I knew once I was with Thymen that was also super good. With Richard, if he has legs, he is one of those riders that will help, so it's nice to go with a guy like him," Bernal said. "We were just collaborating, but it looks like the other group was going super hard, because actually I felt I was descending like a rock, I was even a bit scared in the descent, but the guys behind they still [caught up]."
There was a bit of discord in the group, with leader Del Toro not quite collaborating and maybe even disrupting things, which Bernal said did affect them, but pointed more to the work behind as to why the catch was made, although he didn't understand why UAE chased their own rider.
"I have no idea what they were doing," he said. "It was a bit strange, but they have their reasons, so no idea."
On the Dori climb, Ineos regrouped a little and tried to set a hard pace, and although they couldn't crack UAE, they did put Roglič in trouble. All in all, Bernal seemed satisfied with the day and the team's attempts at aggression, even if the gains were ultimately small.
"With Roglič, I don't know what happened, honestly," he said. "The last climb wasn't super steep, but it was one of those climbs where if you drop, you can lose a lot of time. Actually, in the last metres I was struggling a little bit, it was super hard to keep the pace with the big boys, but I think we did well to try. We are team Ineos, we have to do something for sure."
Ineos now go into the final week with Bernal and Arensman ninth and tenth overall, respectively, with Arensman poised for the longer climbs and Bernal racing better than he has in years, which he said will be a big takeaway regardless of the final result.
"I have been racing with back pain for my whole career, since I was a kid I remember I was having back pain, and since last year after the surgery when they removed the hernia, I've been enjoying being on the bike and it's the first Grand Tour I do without pain," he said.
"After three years of being in the gruppetto the whole race, finally I can do something, I can move the race, and I can feel that I'm bringing something to my team. I'm just happy to be back and for sure, for the future, I think this race will give me something extra, with the result we don't know what it will be, but for sure it will be a big step."
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