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Source: KEYSTONE / AP / Christophe Ena
Last year’s winner, Egan Bernal, throws in the towel at this year’s Tour de France. The 17th stage does not start in Grenoble.
“Egan is a true champion who loves to race, but he is also a young rider with a lot of rounds to go and at this point we feel it is wiser to stop racing,” he explained. Ineos team principal Dave Brailsford in a press release. Bernal will now recover and set new goals for the season.
Before the 17th stage from Grenoble to Col de la Loze, he was 16th in the general classification, just over 19 minutes behind the leader, Primoz Roglic of Slovenia. On Sunday, the 23-year-old stormed into section 15 and lost all opportunities. He had already had to drop out of the Critérium du Dauphiné preparatory career and started the tour in bad shape.
“Of course I did not want my Tour de France to end like this, but I agree that, under the circumstances, it is the right decision for me,” Bernal said in the team statement. “I have the utmost respect for this race and am already looking forward to coming back in the next few years.” Last year he won the Tour de France as the youngest driver in more than a century.
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