EL MUCHACHO MISTERIOSO
When Egan Bernal became the youngest Tour de France winner in over a century, there was a near universal declaration of him being the Grand Tour star of his generation who would now rule the sport. Less voiced was the concern in some quarters about how an early twenty-something from a cycling-mad nation would deal with the pressure, fame and money.
The answer, almost two summers on, is that the attention did negatively affect him. “Winning the Tour was an emotional hit, an ego hit, a populistic hit, a very strong hit. In Colombia we call it a culatazo, a really strong and hard blow,” Pablo Mazuera, Bernal’s mentor who discovered his racing talents aged 12, tells Cycling Weekly. “To
