Bernal completes the Colombian triplet

"I've always thought things happen for a reason." Egan Bernal does not believe in destiny but only the fact of being here, in this Tour, already speaks of the volatility of life. He wasn't even going to run the gala round. His calendar was to be the head of the Ineos ranks in the Giro d'Italia, the first major he was going to play. But a few days before leaving for the "pink corsa" exit, Bernal fell training in Andorra, where he lives, and broke his collarbone.

"I cried in pain, but also because I couldn't go to the Giro." Last year he had already missed another great opportunity, to lead the Sky team in the Tour of Spain, which he could not go through a tremendous fall in the Klasika of San Sebastian that forced him to rebuild his entire mouth. Paris-Nice and the Tour of Switzerland in your pocket, Bernal was aligned for the Tour, with the firm conviction of being the key gregarious for Thomas, but never neglecting his possible chances to win it. In the end it was his. In the end, for Colombia. It was the last great race, not counting the spring classics, which his country lacked.

Lucho Herrera opened the road 32 years ago conquering the Tour of Spain. Until 2014 a coffee runner did not return to conquer a large one, it was Quintana in the Giro d'Italia. Two years later he also managed to repeat Herrera's deed and gain the Vuelta. Quintana also has three podiums in the Tour de France. The first, second after Froome in 2013, indicated him as the first Colombian to win it.

But Nairo has faded away, as if he had no more cycling left to give. And in those Egan Bernal has exploded, the cyclist called to mark a time and that was not even going to run this Tour. «When I fell and they operated on me, I immediately asked how much was missing for the Tour». He is now the crest of "this wave of cyclists who have come from Colombia", who have conquered cycling Europe as the mythical beetles of the last century.

«We are on the other side of the world and that is a disadvantage. Coming here is difficult, ”acknowledges Bernal. "Uran, Nairo and Gaviria opened the way," he recalls. They, especially that of the EF was the first banner, then Quintana arrived eating the world. The Colombians began to reconquer the mountain that those beetles, until Santiago Botero left pending. They only lacked the sprinters and then Fernando Gaviria appeared, low for a knee injury on this Tour and Álvaro Hodeg, the young sprinter of the Deceuninck-Quick Step.

The Colombian nursery seems to have no end. Bernal warns that it will continue to bear fruit. «There are very talented children to come, I am sure. Colombia is going to be even stronger. I am proud to be Colombian. I can't wait to wear this shirt home, ”he says, happy. The world is now yours.