Egan Bernal the ‘mentality monster’ earns praise from Steven Cummings – ‘I’ve never met anybody like this kid’

Ineos Grenadiers sport director Steve Cummings hailed Egan Bernal for his incredible recovery from a horrific crash heading into this year’s Tour de France.

“So it’s difficult to put a timeline on how much he will continue to improve and how long that will take.

“I do know he’s pretty special in terms of his recovery and his mentality. Let’s see, it’s quite exciting in a way.

“It’s unbelievable. I’ve never met anybody like this kid. He’s a mentality monster, that’s what I see. Ever since I’ve known him, that’s the best way of describing him. His self-belief, his ability to suffer – add that to his talent, the way he talks, the way he wants to win, the way he wants people around him. It’s exactly what you need.

“Often people refer to the leader as the strongest rider, physically. But that’s not always the case. It might be that people call him that because he’s mentally the strongest of the group. But in Egan Bernal’s case, even if he’s not strongest physically, he still leads by example. And if he is the strongest physically then he’s the leader on all counts.”

Cummings was keen to lower expectations though, with a youthful team that includes the likes of Tom Pidcock and Carlos Rodriguez. He admits that neither rider has yet to prove their capability to challenge for a Tour podium, and not much can be expected of Egan just yet.

“We have to be really realistic and apart from Egan, we haven’t seen any evidence yet that they can fight for the podium and after his big crash of 2022, he’s still quite far away,” he added.

“Carlos [Rodriguez] hasn’t had the perfect prep, Egan hasn’t had the perfect prep, and [Daniel] Martinez hasn’t had the perfect prep. But if they’re really good and fulfil their potential we hope they can fight for the podium.

“Then there are Stage wins. So if we’re talking about quantifying goals, I’d say we’re putting 50 percent of what we’ve got into going for GC.”

However, Cummings was keen to highlight the potential of Rodriguez after his seventh-place finish at the Vuelta a Espana and also praised the young Spaniard for his recovery from a broken collar bone at the Strade Bianche.

“He’s super-resilient, super-consistent, super-reliable. If you just take last season as an example, he was good in February, good in October and still up there in Lombardia. The difference between when he’s not in top shape, and when he is in top shape is very small. Other people have massive swings, but he doesn’t.”

“He hasn’t had the perfect preparation, but based on his track record, I would bet a lot of money on him improving, and doing all the basic things well. And that’s all we can ask.”

– – –