Nice (AFP)
In search of the double on the Tour de France, Egan Bernal assured Friday to feel "much better" than on the Dauphiné, left en route because of a painful back, and will be the "absolute leader" of Ineos, posted his boss Dave Brailsford, who came to France to "win the race".
"I still have some back pain, but I feel much better than in the Dauphiné where I was really in pain," said the Colombian, last yellow jersey in Paris, in a press videoconference in Nice.
Describing a "very hard, complete course", the Andean climber felt that he should "be focused on the race and in great shape from the first day" of the Great Loop whose peloton sets off on Saturday in Nice.
"Egan deserves to be the leader, he is a brilliant rider, a great talent. We will start the Tour with him as the absolute leader", repeated Dave Brailsford.
"It's the leader, that's clear. It's simple and the simplicity brings clarity", tried transparency the boss of Ineos who dismissed his two other winners of the Great Loop, Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome.
Crowned seven times in the last eight Tour, the ex-Team Sky is aiming for nothing other than victory in France: "We are here to win the race, we are ambitious and we always have been."
Even against Jumbo, the first team to start the Tour on a level playing field with the British team, since the start of Sky hegemony in 2012.
"They have had a good start to the season, admits Brailsford," but it would be a big mistake for us to focus on a team. "
Bernal, he even finds positive in the emergence of another superpower with which he hopes to share the weight of the race.
"It's good for Ineos to be able to share the responsibilities," said the defending champion while conceding that the Dutch team "are among the favorites to win".
In addition to the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, "the strongest in the preparation races" - "he flew" -, the Colombian will "watch out for Tom Dumoulin": "He was getting better and better in the last races", noted Bernal about the Dutchman, winner of the Giro 2017 and runner-up to Geraint Thomas on the 2018 Tour. Jumbo's other card for the 2020 edition.
© 2020 AFP