23 Jun 2019

Bernal seals Tour de Suisse victory

Related riders

Egan Bernal

Tour De Suisse – Stage nine: Goms – Goms, 101.5km

Egan Bernal put in an assured ride on the final day of the Tour de Suisse to confirm overall victory.

The Colombian was comfortably able to follow a late attack from chief rival Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) on the Furkapass and remained glued to the Australian’s wheel to cross the line third in Goms – securing a 19-second GC win.

Once again Team INEOS put up a staunch defence of the yellow jersey, with Luke Rowe and Ben Swift riding hard to keep the race together as attacks began on the first climb of the day.

Swift put in a tireless performance as the GC group wore down, with Jonathan Castroviejo and Kenny Elissonde hanging on to provide support on the second ascent of the Gotthard Pass in three days.

Bernal negotiated the final descent without issue and chalked up another major result in his young career. The win also marked the team’s first overall success at the Tour de Suisse, while Bernal picked up the young rider jersey for good measure.

Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) was the first man to attack on the opening climb and spent the entire day solo off the front to secure a hugely impressive long-range victory.

Reaction

- Egan Bernal

“It’s one of the biggest races that I’ve won. I’m really happy and it gives me a lot of confidence for the next races.

“Just before the race I had a big crash and I could not go to the Giro. So to come here and to win is really nice for me and the team.”

Stage nine result:

1. Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) 3:01:49
2. Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) +1:02"
3. Egan Bernal (Team INEOS) s.t.
4. Mathias Frank (Ag2r-La Mondiale) +1:52"
5. Simon Spilak (Katusha-Alpecin) s.t.

Overall standings:

1. Egan Bernal (Team INEOS) 27:43:10
2. Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) +19"
3. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3:04"
4. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) +3:12"
5. Jan Hirt (Astana) +3:13"