{"id":45639,"date":"2025-08-05T13:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45639\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T13:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:34:10","slug":"egan-bernal-returns-to-racing-for-vuelta-a-espana-and-worlds-preparation-at-vuelta-a-burgos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/45639\/","title":{"rendered":"Egan Bernal returns to racing for Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and Worlds preparation at Vuelta a Burgos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two months after he last pinned on a number, Egan Bernal<\/a> (Ineos Grenadiers<\/a>) returns to racing on Tuesday as he lines up at the Vuelta a Burgos, kicking off his preparation for the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> and the World Championships.<\/p>\n

Bernal last raced at the Giro d’Italia<\/a>, where he finished seventh overall after what he described as a “dream” race, showing signs of his former Grand Tour-winning level at the race he won overall in 2021.<\/p>\n

Since then, he spent some time off in Europe and then returned to Colombia to train, and is now racing again in Spain as he builds towards the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, where he will again target the overall.<\/p>\n

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Before the Vuelta a Burgos<\/a>, he spoke to Colombian outlet AS<\/a> about his training and ambitions for the next races.<\/p>\n

“Very well, I think the preparation has been great,” he told AS. “After the Giro, I rested for ten days here in Europe, then I came back to Colombia and again started to build the base and the usual preparation for a Grand Tour.<\/p>\n

“Firstly, many kilometres, and then, bit by bit, I started to get into a bit more of an intense rhythm. I think everything went well and I’m keen to return to racing.”<\/p>\n

In Burgos, a number of the punchy days and steep climbs like the Lagunas de Neila should suit Bernal, but he’s balancing the desire to win and thinking more long-term about the Vuelta.<\/p>\n

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“A bit of everything, depending on how I feel,” he said of his goals for the week ahead. “Firstly, the aim is to get the rhythm for the Vuelta, race again, and see where we are. It’s been two and a half months of just training.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, I’d like to be in front to try and win the race, I think that’s important. After a long time without competing, you don’t know if you’re going to be there or not. You arrive with a lot of enthusiasm, but at the same time, a lot of doubts. I think the main thing is to start with a good mindset and then accept whatever comes.”<\/p>\n

In Burgos, Bernal sees Giro rival Isaac del Toro<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) as a big favourite, whilst in the Vuelta, the main competition will be Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> (Visma-Lease a Bike).<\/p>\n

Winner of the Tour de France<\/a> in 2019 and Giro in 2021, Bernal has the chance to complete a coveted Grand Tour triple by winning the Vuelta at some point in his career. To do this is a big goal, but so is just competing again.<\/p>\n

“It’s my dream,” he said about winning the Vuelta and completing the set. “I believe I can dream about it. I’ve said it many times, I don’t know if I’ll achieve it or not, but the truth is I wake up every day thinking about being the best again, about being at the front. It’s what I train for, that’s why I keep cycling. If not, I think I would have retired by now.<\/p>\n

“Of course, lots of people talk to me about the Vuelta, and that’s how I see it as well. It’s the only race I’m missing, but people motivate me and tell me to try it. I think it’s one of my motivations. I don’t know if I’ll ever achieve it, but at least as long as I keep cycling, I think it’s going to be my dream.”<\/p>\n

The Vuelta is the main goal, but Bernal also confirmed to AS that he is planning to race the World Championships in Rwanda, where the hilly course<\/a> is set to favour the climbing specialists. It will be the first time he has ridden the World Championships as an elite rider.<\/p>\n

“The idea is to go to Worlds,” he said. “Hopefully [it suits me]. I want to go to Worlds, and normally I would also do the Italian Classics. But firstly, I want to finish Burgos, then the Vuelta and then Worlds. At the moment I can’t make too many plans about the future, but I want to get to Worlds and then I’ll think about going to Lombardia, where I’d like to do well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two months after he last pinned on a number, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) returns to racing on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-45639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}