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Egan Bernal at the 77th Paris-Nice. Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP

Colombian Egan Bernal (Sky) won Sunday, March 17 the 77th edition of Paris-Nice. At 22, whoever will be the leader of his training on the next Tour of Italy is described as a future great runner. The Spaniard Ion Izaguirre (Astana) won the last stage in the streets of Nice.

Youth took power on the 77th edition of Paris-Nice, the first major stage race of the season on French soil. The young Colombian rider was ahead of his senior, Nairo Quintana. A two-time junior medalist at the cross-country MTB world championships (silver in 2014, bronze in 2015), Egan Bernal was the most successful of his early career in Paris-Nice. In the final classification, for his first participation, Bernal beat Quintana, the most successful of Colombian riders (winner of the Tour of Italy, the Tour of Spain and three podiums on the Tour de France) by 39 seconds.

A climber with a conquering mind

If Egan Bernal aims to leave his mark on the Tour of Italy in May, he has already shown that he had the resources to become the future great Colombian rider of tomorrow. Nairo Quintana who is still pursuing his dream of victory on the Tour de France is already seeing the next generation. Bernal's mountain talent and conquering mind could propel him very quickly towards the goal of being the first Colombian to win the Tour de France. And this from 2020. He discovers the Loop last season in the role of teammate for the outgoing winner Geraint Thomas and ranks 15th overall.

" I think that all the qualifiers we use for Bernal are not enough ," Alberto Contador told RFI during the last Tour de France. He will do great things and will not have to wait very long to come back on the Tour to try to win it . "

The talent of Egan Bernal, who started with the MTB, was discovered during his victory at the Tour de l'Avenir in August 2017 where he had won two stages. That's enough to support the Sky team that chose to join the world cycling nugget for 2018. " My responsibility as manager (of the Sky team) is to look forward two or three seasons," explained Dave Brailsford. Guardian. I searched, searched, searched for who would possibly become the next Chris Froome. My choice fell on Bernal ".