I love stories like this as they are rare in today's world. When talent shines through and opens up for someone like Egan Bernal. He has come form a poor background and now the world is his oyster.
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Egan grew up in a small town called Zipaquirá around 30 kilometers outside of Bogota. the town is known for it's salt mines and now they have a Tour de France winner. His dad was a good cyclist but couldn't afford a bicycle so had to work. He sacrificed and gave a mountain bike to his son early on and the rest was history.
Colombians are known for their climbers as they training altitude. The town where he hails from is at 2700 m above sea level and the road leading to Pacho hits 3600 m above sea level. This is his mothers town and she said that Egan said he needed to cover the pass from Zipaquirá to pacho in less than 60 minutes to have a chance at the Tour de France. This spring he made it with 4 minutes to spare so he was right in his predictions.
When Egan was a junior cyclist he won gold and silver medals at the World Championships and caught the eye of an Italian talent scout Gianni Savio and signed him up for the low budget Androni Giocattoli team. Egan rode in the under 23 mini Tour de France in 201 6. The following year he won it and team Sky bought him out of his contract.
It shows you what a professional he is as he learnt Italian within 6 months and when Sky signed him he did the same with English. As a 22 year old he is fluent in 3 languages now and an advertisers dream.I know there are many spin offs from winning the Tour, but someone form South America opens up new possibilities and will inspire a new generation of riders from Columbia now.
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In 2017 after some remarkable results it has been rumored he was on a 5 year contract to be in the region of 200 000 Pounds per month. This year he has won the Paris-Nice and the Tour of Switzerland and now he has won the biggest race in the world the Tour de France and now he is worth a little more. His family is no longer going to have to struggle and it is truly a rags to riches.
He has come up the world rankings from nowhere and that is down to pure talent. He will be a force for years to come and Ineos have a little gem who is only 22 years of age. this is great for cycling as they need a new face with a clean image to lead them into the future.