Bernal all but secures Tour win

VAL THORENS, FRANCE >> Perpetuating the tradition of great Colombian climbers, Egan Bernal left his mark on the Tour de France in the mountains. But unlike his flashy predecessors, he is also poised to win cycling’s biggest race. At just 22.

Bernal kept the yellow jersey July 27 after the last Alpine stage, and barring a crash or a last-minute health issue he will become the first Colombian to win the Tour when it ends on Paris’ Champs-Elysees with a largely processional stage on Sunday. Bernal will also become the youngest postWorld War II winner of the Tour.

“Colombia always had great climbers,” Bernal said. “We won the Giro, the Vuelta, but it never happened before on the Tour. For many years we had great cyclists, we never managed to win. It did not work out on the Tour de France. Now we have it.”

Long before Bernal was born, Colombian riders like Lucho Herrera and Fabio Parra conquered the hearts of cycling fans with long and spectacular raids in the Tour mountains. But for all their brilliance, they never came close to winning the race. More recently, Nairo Quintana ended up runner-up twice behind Chris Froome but lacked the time trialing abilities required to overcome the British fourtime champion.

This year’s route, the highest in the race history with five summit finishes — including three stages finishing above 2,000 meters and only 33.55miles of time trialing — gave natural-born climber Bernal a golden opportunity.

Unlike Bradley Wiggins, Froome and Geraint Thomas — the three other riders who won the Tour for the British outfit Ineos — Bernal is not a race-againstthe-clock specialist. He has built his success on consistent performances in the Pyrenees and a tremendous attack in the Alps after losing ground in the individual time trial.

“The talent is there to see, he was born to go uphill fast,” said Bernal’s teammate and now deposed champion Geraint Thomas. “He has got many, many great years in front of him. A very bright future.”

Thomas, lagging 1 minute and 11 seconds behind overall, should finish runner-up to give the Ineos team a 1-2 finish in Paris, like they did in 2012 when the squad was called Sky. Weighing only 130 pounds, the super-light Bernal thrived in rarefied air.