Egan Bernal has admitted that he did not expect to be racing the Tour de France this summer and has already shelved any idea of a GC bid, but the former winner says he is going to give it his best shot all the same.
"I felt good, and they've brought me here," was how the 29-year-old described the process via which he has ending up racing his sixth Tour de France, all of which have been with Netcompany Ineos or previous iterations of the same squad.
Prior to Bernal's arrival, Netcompany's 2026 Tour line up had suffered two important setbacks, firstly with the unavoidable absence from their Tour line-up of Oscar Onley, badly injured in the recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. On top of that Spain's Carlos Rodriguez, fifth overall in 2023, was not selected due to what race director Geraint Thomas said on Thursday was "the general balance of the team and wanting to be competitive over all terrains."
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Bernal's presence does mean there will now be three former Tour de France winners on the Barcelona start line tomorrow (Bernal, Pogačar and Vingegaard) as well as four former Giro d'Italia winners – 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley is also taking part.
But regardless of previous GC success, Bernal told reporters on Thursday evening at the team presentation he would not, in any case, be aiming for the overall – something that looks likely, if not definitive, for the entire squad.
"I think we have to look for stages, I don't think I'm in the right circumstances for the overall. We've got a very experienced team and it defends itself well in tough stages.," Bernal said, in statements reported by El Tiempo.
Bernal last raced the Tour in 2024, finishing 29th, and he described his presence in this year's event as "a bit of a surprise. After the Giro, the idea was to take a break, and then prepare for the Vuelta a España. I think I finished the Giro well" – he was tenth overall – "and to tell the truth, the Tour is the Tour, they [Netcompany Ineos] give it high priority. I felt good, and they brought me here."
Looking at the race route itself Bernal argued that the opening team time trial, which was a near-miss for Netcompany in the Tour d'Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes but a win in the same speciality at Paris-Nice, would be a clear target.
"The whole team is thinking about Saturday, and I want to focus on that stage, it's very good for us and we want it," Bernal, whose last victory was the Colombian Nationals Road Race early this year, insisted.
"The last week will always be hard, not just because of the route, but also because of the mental and physical fatigue. We'll have to try and get there feeling as fresh as possible."
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