Champion mentality. There has always been talk about the mental strength that Egan Bernal has and how little by little he has managed to recover after his serious accident. He has done everything in record time and now it seems that 2024 will be the year projected by the runner to be there again fighting with the greats who have gained an advantage over him in recent years.
Egan told Cyclingnews that he believes he can be on the same level as champions Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. “Rivals like Evenepoel and Vingegaard want to win all the races, they arrive in good shape to win and for that you have to work hard and hard. “I don’t think they have anything that I don’t have and vice versa.”
The champion of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France highlighted that he is working hard to be back among the favorites of the majors. He stressed that it would be good to compare his level in a normal situation. “It would be great to see how my level compares to theirs in a normal situation. I don’t know if it will be possible after all, but that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Return to being one of the best and admiration for Froome
Year after year, Bernal and Ineos have set goals. The one in 2023 was to return to the big leagues and help the team as a gregarious, the Colombian achieved this by making good presentations in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. Now, it seems that in 2024, they will seek to be among the best again.
“I wake up every day thinking that I will return to my best level. I want to have that mentality that I can be one of the best riders in the world because otherwise, I don’t think I would continue riding the bike professionally. I would simply retire,” said the 26-year-old runner.
Finally, he referred to the admiration that he has had for Chris Froome since he was very young. “Since I was a child, Froome was like a hero to me. What he did, winning four Tours de France, the Giro, the Vuelta… everything he did is just incredible.”
Source: Diario AS