Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) has struggled to stay out of the spotlight for all the wrong reasons during the first eight stages of the Giro d'Italia, from his early difficulties on an innocuous stage 4 climb, to being dropped and losing significant time on the Blockhaus on stage 7. Still, his team say "nothing has changed" in Bernal's GC bid.
The 2021 Giro winner arrived at the start in Bulgaria having seemingly rediscovered his best legs and finished second at the Tour of the Alps in the build-up, but he's failed to carry them into what's been a first week to forget.
He's sat in 15th overall after eight stages, but with a 6:18 deficit to overall leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious), and a more than three-minute gap to second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), even after just one mountaintop finish.
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On Blockhaus, it became clear that Bernal didn't have the legs he promised in April. It looked certain that Thymen Arensman would emerge as Ineos' sole GC leader, having lost significantly less time to Vingegaard on the 13.6km ascent. But according to Ineos, with a long way to go until they reach Rome, Bernal's role will remain the same.
"No, I think nothing's changed. I mean, of course, we can't hide the gap, this is clear, but we have to keep our belief high, it's only the first long climb on this Giro," said Sports Director Leonardo Basso to Cyclingnews before stage 8.
"Every Giro stage can be a difficult one, you know, so it's just only the first step, and we have a lot of mountains ahead, so I will say nothing has changed after yesterday."
In fact, Basso said that the team's post-stage review was one of satisfaction, having got their positioning into the base correct, and followed their own plan for the entire 40-minute effort, even with the result not looking spectacular by any means on paper.
"Actually, we reviewed the stage last night, and I think the team was 10 of 10 because we were in the perfect position on the long downhill before and onto the bottom of Blockhaus, and that was our key point as a team," said Basso.
"From there, I think the guys did their best, absolutely no doubt on this. Thymen was fighting, and Egan was fighting until the end. When Vingegaard attacked, of course, we were planning not to follow immediately, because he is the main favourite of the race. We followed our plan, and actually, we are satisfied with our performance; it's only the first step into this GC fight."
Underestimating a Tour de France and Giro winner is something to be done only with big risk, but Bernal just doesn't appear to be improving at the same rate the sport is. His comments on Friday echoed that theory, as he even sounded surprised that his numbers weren't enough.
"I don't want to talk too much about the numbers, because the fact is, I lost three minutes. But I think at the same time I was doing my best 40 minutes ever," Bernal told reporters at the finish of Blockhaus, seemingly dumbfounded.
"I was riding at 6 watts per kilo, and for me that's good, 40 minutes for me like this is good numbers, and I'm still losing a lot of time, but you know how it is."
When Bernal was surprisingly dropped on stage 4 and had to be bailed out by Ben Turner, he revealed that he had opted to fall back from the peloton due to his abnormally high heart rate. Basso confirmed, however, that this wasn't the case again on stage 7.
"I think the heart rate, a lot of guys were in the same situation on stage 4; it was the first real hard effort of the Giro after three relatively easy days in Bulgaria and after long travel," he said.
"No, actually, he didn't mention it yesterday, so there's nothing more to add; we'll just keep the belief, and there are a lot of mountains ahead of us."
Bernal looked much better on the punchy eighth stage to Fermo, but if he has another day as he did to Blockhaus on stage 9's summit finish at Corno alle Scale and ships more time on GC, Ineos may be forced to admit that the situation has indeed changed for their two leaders.
At the same time, Arensman has quietly got through several days that don't suit him as a more diesel climber, and someone who has tended not to impress in the first week of Grand Tours. With the stage 10 time trial set to be a big boost to his overall race, he could emerge as Ineos' true leader and a real big hope for the podium come Rome.
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