Egan Bernal hitting all the right lines in Giro d'Italia rehearsal

If the Tour of the Alps doubles as a dress rehearsal for the Giro d’Italia, then Egan Bernal is hitting all the right lines ahead of the main event. The Colombian champion arrived at this race with lingering questions about his form after a knee injury interrupted his Spring, but he has provided solid answers at every turn thus far.

On the summit finish at Val Martello on Tuesday, Bernal played a key part in helping Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman close down Giulio Pellizzari’s attack. In Arco a day later, Bernal had the speed to take third in a reduced bunch sprint behind his old teammate Tom Pidcock.

In the punchy finale in Trento on Thursday, meanwhile, Bernal was again to the fore, attacking on the short, sharp climb to Povo, picking up a pair of bonus seconds in the process, leaving him third overall, just four seconds off Pellizzari’s overall lead.

Whatever happens in Friday’s grand finale in Bolzano, it’s all been adding up to a positive week for Bernal. After a difficult March, when a knee injury kept him off the bike for three weeks and forced him to miss Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a Catalunya, the outlook for May suddenly looks a lot more promising.

“As a rider you are always questioning yourself, because the race is the final test, so at the moment, we can say we are happy with where we are,” Ineos sports director Leonardo Basso told reporters in Trento on Thursday.

“We believe in the process towards the Giro d’Italia, and this is part of that process. The Tour of the Alps has been an important race for us in the past as a preparation. We are building shape for the Giro, but at the same time, we are trying to make the best out of it. 

“We saw a difficult stage today, and the finale was punchy, so that was difficult to manage, but I think we did a great job. And we know that this time bonus close to the finish can make a difference at the end in GC.”

When Bernal won the Giro in 2021, the assumption was that he would return to challenging Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France in the years that followed, but his life-threatening training crash in January 2022 would change the entire course of his career.

Despite suffering fractured vertebrae, a fractured femur, chest trauma and a punctured lung, Bernal returned to competition before the end of that season, but his return to relevance in Grand Tours would take considerably longer.

Twelve months ago, Bernal placed seventh overall at the Giro, while in September, he claimed his first victory in more than four years when he outsprinted Mikel Landa to win a stage of the Vuelta a España in Mos.

It remains to be seen, however, if Bernal can go a step further in 2026 and challenge for the podium – or more – at a Giro where Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) will line out as the overwhelming favourite for the maglia rosa.

“I would say that we are more focused on our process than on the others,” Basso said of Bernal’s prospects of challenging Vingegaard. “Of course, we know that our competitors are super strong, Vingegaard above all. But we’ll keep doing our stuff and try to arrive at the best shape as possible in Bulgaria.

“If you have the right mentality, you can push the limit every day in every training and races. And I think they have shown that they have this mentality through the altitude camp and through the racing preparation.”

As in 2025, Bernal will share leadership at the Giro with Arensman. In an era where the so-called ‘aliens’ of the peloton seem almost unbeatable, the dual-pronged strategy is almost de rigueur for those trying to challenge them. It marks a change with the approach Ineos generally employed during Basso’s spell with the team as a rider, but it is simply a reflection of the times.

“It’s a different cycling,” Basso said. “We’ve seen in the last few years it’s become more aggressive, it's more, the action is further from the finish. I would say it’s a different sport – not completely, but in part – so we have to adapt to the new era.

“And it’s a strength, using two leaders like this, and the Giro is different from the Tour too. I think from our part we have to try to do our best with this.”