Egan Bernal dropped from third to fourth overall in the final time trial of the Tour de Suisse, but the Colombian hopes that his result was good enough to make the squad for Ineos Grenadier's bid for GC at the Tour de France, which begins June 29 in Florence. ...

"It was tough. I wanted to keep the podium in this race, but this is cycling. I didn't feel good on the bike today," Bernal said in a post-race interview in Villars-sur-Ollon. [I did my best, but I'm a little sad. I'm also sorry to my team.

Bernal placed fifth at the summit of the Gotthard Pass on stage 4, moving up to fourth overall. He moved up one spot in the standings by finishing third at the summit finish of Cali on stage 5. On the final day, stage 8, he was still in third place overall, 1:51 behind overall winner Adam Yates and runner-up Joao Almeida (both UAE Team Emirates).

However, he slipped off the podium on the 15.7km stage from Aigle to Villars-sur-Ollon, a race against the clock with 10.2km of climbing averaging 8.2%. Almeida took the stage win and Yates finished second for the overall win. Bernal finished ninth, 1:30 back, and dropped to fourth overall behind Matthias Skjelmoes (Ridltrek), who finished third on the final stage.

Bernal had not raced since winning the Tour de Suisse in 2019 and said the race seemed tougher than he remembered, but it also gave him a hint of his form for his big goals this season.

"It's always a hard race, but this time I think I went really fast on the climbs. The level was very high and it was good training for future races," Bernal said.

After returning to racing after a life-threatening crash in early 2022, Bernal's condition has steadily improved, with a 7th place in Paris-Nice, 3rd in Volta a Catalunya (his first WorldTour podium since his return), 10th in the Tour de Romandie, and 4th overall in the Tour de Suisse. He has been improving steadily.

Ineos Grenadier said Bernal has not yet announced his team for the Tour de France, which he won in 2019, but if he does, he wants to see if he can compete in the overall classification.

Asked where he would like to race next, Bernal said, "I would like to be in the Tour if possible, and I think I would be happy in the Tour."

Bernal's teammate Tom Pidcock said he had the best time trial of his career on stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse. He finished fifth, 50 seconds slower than Almeida, and moved up to sixth overall.

"It was my best time trial since I turned pro. Every day this week I'm getting better. I was very light, partly because I started at high altitude. I set a new personal best in the time trial.

The reigning world champion, Olympic gold medalist in cross-country mountain biking, and former world cyclo-cross champion said he believes he can win big stage races, depending on his training.

"It shows what practice can do. In the mountains we rode five days in a row and each day I'm getting better. It's really positive." Pidcock, who moved up to sixth place overall, said.

"Of course, you don't want to be one of the top 10 guys in GC all the time.

Pidcock will now turn his attention to the fifth round of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Crans Montana, canton of Valais in the Swiss Alps. He will remain there until he heads to the Tour de France.

"I'm going to Crans-Montana tonight, then next weekend I'll race the World Cup and then go to the Tour. So I'm not going home. So I'm not going home. "