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Privilege for the smartest boy. Egan Bernal , the most diligent student of the last Tour de France, is also the first to benefit from a slowdown in confinement. The Colombian has managed to get the mayor of his hometown, Zipaquirá, to give him permission to train outside his home. Everyone watches with envy the fine climber, who can now detach himself for a while from the routine home practices that overwhelm footballers, tennis players, athletes, pilots, basketball players ... A break for the damn roller, that torture rack where they continue fucking each other Froome , Roglic , Yates , Thomas , Dumoulin , Nibali orValverde . Belgians are the only athletes who have not been cloistered by the coronavirus.

The mayor Wilson García has allowed the Ineos runner to exercise outside his home, but always within the municipal area. An exceptional measure that can only be carried out between five and eight in the morning, a short period of time, but sufficient to alleviate the confinement caused by the claws of the Covid-19. To take advantage of this amnesty, Bernal had to return to his parents' house , since shortly before winning the Tour he went to live in Chia, a town 22 kilometers from Zipaquirá. There you can not train in the streets of the town, but you can in the surroundings.

Other cyclists, such as Nairo Quintana (a native of Boyacá) or Rigoberto Urán (Antioquia) have also requested authorization to leave their exile, but have not been granted. Since last Monday, Colombians can carry out physical activity outdoors for an hour and individually, although mayors have the power to set rules in their municipal terms.

Seville, without the same luck

Bernal began his quarantine in Colombia shortly before March 20, that day they gave him a Covid-19 test that was negative and soon after he published a message on social networks praising the work of the health workers : "To all those people who in They are working day and night to control this situation. I want to thank them enormously from all of Colombia, this is braver than winning a Tour de France and you are national heroes at the moment. "

The effects of Covid-19 in Colombia are noticeable, but less virulent than in Spain. The last report of the Ministry of Health included 253 deaths, 5,507 positives and 1,200 recovered. The most infected city is Bogotá , with 2,345. Cundinamarca , the Bernal region, only has 213 infected; Antioch , with 461; and Boyacá , 31.

Óscar Sevilla , the Spanish cyclist settled in Colombia for 10 years, also claimed, without success, to train outside his home. "I live in Bogotá and my team asked us to let us exercise on the street, but at the moment it is not possible. Let's see what happens throughout this week. Here people can go out for sports for just an hour , between six and 10 in the morning. They have opened the door a little, but they don't want the situation to get out of hand. Let's see if this ends soon and we are able to get some good out of all the bad that we are suffering ", maintains this 43-year veteran.

Bernal may be accompanied in his training by other runners from the Zipaquirá area: Brandon Rivera , Camilo Castilblanco , Diego Vásquez and Dyyer Rincón , but there must always be a separation of at least five meters between them.

"Psychic and mental aspect"

The winner of the 2019 Tour gets air in the face again, climbing the small ports of his town. A luxury. "Bernal already takes advantage over the rest," says Pascual Momparlet . "Leaving the roller for a while means a lot from the mental and psychological aspect," adds the Spanish coach.

During an interview with this newspaper, Alejandro Valverde already pointed out that the confinement will take its toll. "Some are doing outrageous things, with trainings of five and six hours in a row . It does not make sense, because we do not know what the closest objectives will be. The roller burns you physically and mentally," revealed the world champion in 2018.

In this way, Bernal takes the lead while the rest wait for relief to return to activity. Football seems to be the first to start, then basketball, cycling and Formula 1, but all conditioned to the evolution of a global pandemic. Damn bug.

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  • Egan Bernal
  • Colombia
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