After taking the podium at the O Gran Camiño, Egan Bernal will continue his season in Paris-Nice. The 27-year-old Colombian climber is part of the seven-man Ineos Grenadiers squad for the ‘Race of the Sun’, in which he will be one of the leaders alongside Spaniard Carlos Rodríguez.
The zipaquireño, who has already won the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia in his career, is slowly finding his form. This season, Bernal seems to have taken another step forward. In fact, the Beetle finished fifth in the Tour Colombia and finished third in a rather strong edition of the O Gran Camiño, ahead of Hugh Carthy, Richard Carapaz and David Gaudu, among others.
Bernal was initially on the list for Strade Bianche (Saturday, March 4), but earlier this week it was announced that the climber would not start the Italian classic. Now it’s clear why: the Colombian will be at the start of Paris-Nice on Sunday, the race he won in 2019. It’s already his third stage race of 2024.
In addition to the Colombian, the British squad will have Carlos Rodriguez, fifth in last year’s Tour de France. The Spaniard comes from racing the O Gran Camiño, but failed to appear and finished 31st overall.
The English team is completed by Belgian Laurens De Plus, Spaniards Jonathan Castroviejo and Omar Fraile and Britons Ben Turner and Joshua Tarling. The latter will not be presented with an individual time trial, but will undoubtedly be an important link in the team time trial on the third day.
INEOS GRENADIERS’ LIST OF RIDERS FOR PARIS-NICE
Egan Bernal (Colombia)
Laurens De Plus (Belgium)
Joshua Tarling (Great Britain)
Carlos Rodríguez (Spain)
Omar Fraile (Spain)
Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain)
Ben Turner (Great Britain)
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico