Egan Bernal could only defend third place in the seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland 2024. Despite the aggressive racing of his teammates, who kept the pace high throughout the day, the Colombian was unable to follow the accelerations of the UAE Team Emirates pair in the final, thus preferring to remain on the defensive against Mattias Skjelmose, who they considered the most dangerous man for the podium objective. Well supported by Tom Pidock, the leader of the Ineos Grenadiers managed himself in the climb and closed the stage in sixth position, a few seconds behind Matthew Riccitello (Israel PremierTech), together with the Dane on whom he will therefore be able to defend 59 seconds in the hill climb tomorrow conclusive
We saw Ineos pull, what was your plan?
We wanted to race hard. I think we have one of the strongest races here and everyone is committed to our plan. We did our best to play our cards. In the end we are still on the podium and tomorrow we will have to defend ourselves
How did the last climb go for you?
I felt good, but I was only focused on not wasting Mattias’ time. I was lucky to have Tom by my side, in the last kilometers he did a great job and made the race easy for me
Was the UAE really free of weaknesses this week?
They are really very strong, they are probably the strongest team in the world at the moment. Yesterday we all knew that the numbers we achieved were extraordinary, not just theirs, but for everyone. Not that we are in excellent shape at the front, but we have to stay focused on ourselves, try to continue improving and we have great motivation to try to do even better.
