Bernal baffled by his Blockhaus time loss: ' best 40 minutes of my life'

Netcompany INEOS arrived at the Giro d'Italia with serious ambitions. With Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal, the British team brought two leaders who were, on paper, genuine podium candidates. But after the first real mountain stage, one of those names can be written in pencil through the GC picture: the Colombian lost a very significant amount of time on Blockhaus. His reaction says everything.

Bernal had already shown a moment of weakness in stage four. On the road to Cosenza — won by Jhonatan Narváez — he was dropped with roughly forty riders still in the lead group, and was eventually brought back by teammate Ben Turner. The team did not panic, putting it down to the long travel day from Bulgaria to Italy.

But a few days later, it went seriously wrong again. Early on the brutal slopes of Blockhaus, the Colombian champion was dropped under Visma | Lease a Bike's tempo. While teammate Arensman crossed the line in tenth, Bernal had to concede almost three minutes to stage winner Jonas Vingegaard, and 1 minute 15 seconds to his co-leader.

And what makes it all the more baffling for Bernal is that his preparation was solid — and during the stage itself, there were no warning signs. "I felt good, very good," he told CyclingPro.net before stage eight. "During the stage and on the climb I was genuinely putting out strong numbers. I looked at my power output and the numbers were good — and the feeling was great too. But at the same time, I lost three minutes. It's a bit strange."

It was clear the Colombian was rattled by the disappointment. Feeling bad is one thing — but that is simply not what happened here. "I don't want to talk too much about my power numbers, because the fact is I lost three minutes. But I rode the best 40 minutes of my life. I was climbing at 6 watts per kilo — which is very good for me. And still I lost a lot of time."

It is a genuinely mysterious situation — and yet the experienced climber, who has overcome more than his share of setbacks, is not the type to give up. "These are things you can't control. I'm calm, because I gave a good effort. I know myself well, and I know what is possible. We still have a long way to go — but I did lose three minutes."