'I'm 29, but I almost feel old' – Egan Bernal reflects on the changing landscape of cycling as he returns to Giro d'Italia with GC hopes once again

With a striking new beard as well as new Netcompany Ineos kit, Egan Bernal could hardly fail to stand out at in the mixed zone of the Giro d'Italia team presentation on Wednesday evening. But with his third participation in the race and eleventh Grand Tour start rapidly approaching, the Colombian was also ready to reflect on how much professional cycling has changed since he first took part in a three-week stage race way back in 2018.

Over the past decade, younger and younger riders have been both achieving more top results and are expected to do so, Bernal pointed out, something which places his own dramatically successful performances early in his career into a different context compared to when he started.

At the same time, he insisted, he remained very motivated for a Grand Tour which he won back in 2021, and where he took a promising seventh place overall last year, his best GC result in a three-week race since his terrible training accident in January 2022.

On top of that, his results in recent races have been very promising, with a second place overall in the Tour of the Alps putting him on the podium alongside Netcompany Ineos Giro co-leader Thymen Arensman, who took third.

With or without his new beard – "Let's see how it goes, day by day," Bernal answered with a grin when one reporter suggested if he makes the final podium in Rome he could shave it off to celebrate – the current Colombian national road champion's performances will surely be giving the media a lot to talk about this May.

As for the ever-increasing impact of the younger generations, Bernal pointed out that when back in 2018, what he achieved was far more unusual. That, he said, was no longer the case.

"When I won the Tour de France [at 22], I was the youngest rider to do that in 100 years and when they first took me to the Tour in 2018, I was only 21 and it seemed almost impossible, being so young, for that to happen," he said.

"I'm only 29, but I almost feel old.... These days teams give lots more chances to the young riders to shine," he continued. "They let them train more, they're getting more motivated and the way the teams handle them has changed, too. Teams still look after them, of course, but now they want them to get results, too."

Yet if Bernal is a beardless youth no longer, he is, he says, as enthusiastic as when he started out as a pro. That was in Italy, too, back when he was a teenager with the late Gianni Savio's Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec squad in a now-distant 2016.

"They say it's the most beautiful race of all and I'm as keen as ever to do it well, we've got a great team and I'm very motivated," Bernal said.

"I've raced very little this season," – the result of a knee injury wiped out his chances of doing some week-long stage races this spring like the Volta a Catalunya – "but in my first races back, I've been up there more or less and that allows me to go on dreaming of some top results here."

There is one advantage of missing out on races this spring. As Bernal said: "It's important too, that I'm fresh for the Giro, that way I can be up there, trying to do what I can."

He rejected the idea, though, that as the Giro d'Italia route is not as tough as other years, it could mean that riders will find more opportunities to challenge the lead favourite, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Rather, he believes, the Giro will be as difficult as ever, all the way through to the final weekend.

"For me it's still very hard, I wouldn't say they've made it any more straightforward," Bernal said. "Maybe if you look at the profiles, it doesn't seem so bad, but when you actually get there on the day, the routes are still really difficult."

That's from the word go, too, he pointed out. "Even stage 2 here in Bulgaria has a climb with three or four kilometres at over 8 or 9 per cent and then stage 7 with the Blockhaus is really tough.

"That last week of the Giro is really difficult, particularly the final stages and that's where the biggest differences will be made. As always in the Giro."

Bernal may find himself in a very different place compared to when he first started out in the Grand Tours eight years ago, then. But as he says, for all some elements in bike races have changed considerably, others – like the terrain – remain exactly the same. And once again, he'll be doing his utmost to make his own performance count whenever he can.

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