Egan Bernal "angry" as Pogacar effortlessly breaks away again: "When you compete against him, many times he makes it seem like you’re bad"

The usually reliable Domestique wrote down some interesting statements by Bernal, taken from the Colombian TV broadcast. Of course, his new step in the right direction was discussed. Bernal crashed hard into a stationary bus during training in January 2022 and needed years to regain his old level and improve in a sport that is constantly evolving.

In 2024, there were already positive signs, but in 2025, Bernal was outstanding. After winning national titles in the time trial and road race in Colombia, he competed with the best in the Giro d'Italia for a long time. He finished seventh. In the Vuelta a España, he finished outside the top ten, but he did win a stage. It was his first victory since his terrible crash almost four years ago.

“This year, I felt like I started to be myself again,” Bernal said of a successful year with two grueling Grand Tours. “I felt stronger. This year, I went to the Giro, finished seventh, and I went to the Vuelta aiming for the podium. It didn’t happen, but I still believe that one day I can win again,” he said ambitiously about the only Grand Tour missing from his list of achievements.

Bernal won the Tour de France in 2019 and the Giro in 2021. He will undoubtedly continue to compete in the Vuelta in the coming years, especially now that he has truly overcome all his physical misfortunes. “I was dealing with back pain, I had a herniated disc. Even so, in 2021, I went to the Giro d’Italia with that pain and won it, and I didn’t know whether I’d need surgery or not.”

Surgery in 2024 ultimately worked out well, although Bernal knows that after 2025 he will have a lot of ground to make up if he wants to threaten Pogacar. In the Italian fall, he faced the world champion, and it was no fun. “He’s on another level. When you compete against him, many times he makes it seem like you’re bad.”

“It makes me angry: you’re giving it your all, and this guy takes off like nothing happened,” continued Bernal, who also added some nuance. What you think in your head is not always what you should think. “But it’s cool to compete against him, he pushes the rest of us to want to improve. It’s cool that we get to see the Pogacar era.”