Tour de France 2019: Egan Bernal has cycling world at his feet after winning his first yellow jersey

Egan Bernal sipped champagne with teammates as he confirmed his first Tour de France triumph, while the Australian Caleb Ewan won stage 21 on the Champs-Elysees

As Egan Bernal clinked champagne glasses with Dave Brailsford and Ineos teammates en route to his coronation in Paris, it was tempting to wonder how many more times this image would repeat itself over the coming years. Aged 22, Bernal is the youngest Tour de France winner of the post-war era with a natural gift for climbing at altitude in the strongest team of modern times. If you were to design the next era-defining Grand Tour rider, they would look an awful lot like Egan Bernal.

He has had to play the long game over the past three weeks, not getting his hands on the yellow jersey until the penultimate stage, but in some ways it was a mark of his patience as well as his impressive maturity: he stayed alert on the open plains of the Massif, limited the damage on the time-trial, moved into position in the Pyrenees and finally pounced in the thin air of the Alps.

The last day was the easiest of all. Tradition dictates the final stage of the Tour is a truce between the main GC riders, more parade than peloton, and it was a chance for the 158 who made it this far to finally enjoy themselves. They chatted away in the evening sun and took it in turns to come to the fore for group photos like a family wedding. Peter Sagan, wearing a record seventh green jersey, photobombed Ineos’s team shot, while there was an eye-catching picture of the four Colombians – three finished in the top 10 and one wore the maillot jaune.

“Thank you Gee for the opportunity,” Bernal said on the podium to his teammate Geraint Thomas, who finished second. “Today I am the most happy guy in the world. I really can’t believe it.”

Pockets of yellow brightened up the roadside as thousands of Colombians turned out in their unmissable national football shirt to cheer home Bernal. Colombia has a great cycling tradition and its riders have made a significant impact on the Tour since the first, Luis Herrera, rode here in 1984. Thirty-five years later those fans finally celebrate a champion.

The Australian Caleb Ewan won the stage itself to clinch a stunning hat-trick of wins on his debut Tour. In his running battle with Elia Viviani, Dylan Groenewegen and Sagan he has come out on top and proved himself the best sprinter on the planet right now, even if he wouldn’t say it himself. “I’m not going to sit here and say I’m the best sprinter in the world, but I’ve proved I’m the best sprinter in this Tour de France,” Ewan said. “The last time I was in Paris I was 17, and I drove down the Champs-Elysees and said ‘I’m going to win here’.”

Romain Bardet secured the polka dot jersey, thinly papering over the cracks in his GC credentials, while the most combative rider prize went to man who lit up this race and turned it into one of the best in years, Julian Alaphilippe, giving him a well-deserved reason to be on the podium in Paris. Asked about his future ambitions, Alaphilippe said: “I may come back one day to win the Tour de France but not next year, no.”

Colombian fans in Paris to see Egan Bernal (Getty)

And of course Bernal himself won the best young rider’s white jersey. Are we getting a little overexcited? It’s easy to forget that these are still early days and that not all young talents deliver on their promise. The most obvious comparison is his fellow Colombian climber Nairo Quintana, who seemed certain to become a Tour de France champion after winning the white jersey aged 23 and the Giro d’Italia aged 24, but probably never will. Then again Quintana’s weaknesses – a terrible time-triallist in a strategically woeful team competing against the might of Team Sky – simply don’t apply to Bernal.

Strangely the greatest threat to Bernal might be Team Ineos themselves, who now hold the past three Tour de France champions in their stable. Geraint Thomas was Bernal’s closest competition this year and the Welshman was clear-eyed when he said on Saturday that he could win the Tour next year, while Chris Froome may be 35 next year but is still desperate to win a fifth yellow jersey and has been joking with French rival Thibaut Pinot on social media about seeing him on the start line in 2020.

Egan Bernal gives a cheers to Dave Brailsford (Getty)

Tim Kerrison, Ineos’s head of performance, gave a less than convincing ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’ kind of answer when asked how he and Brailsford would deal with the situation. He suggested they “will do what we always do”, but they have never had three outstanding riders like this and it is hard to imagine any one of the Bernal, Thomas or Froome accepting a role as super-domestique.

It is now seven years from eight that the British team have won the Tour – Froome crashed out in 2014 when Vincenzo Nibali won it – but this time they wavered a little in their control of the race and faced real competition. The brilliant Dutch team Jumbo-Visma showed particularly promising signs, finishing on the podium with Steven Kruijswijk and winning four stages including the team-trial. They are rumoured to be signing the best rider in the Netherlands right now, Tom Dumoulin, who would add further ammunition.

Yet even if rivals improve, don’t be fooled into thinking Ineos are getting weaker. Froome and Thomas may be towards the end of their careers but they are determined to go on, while there is a raft of talent coming through the team’s development programme. As if they need another Grand Tour winner in their ranks, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz is set to switch from Spanish team Movistar following his triumph in the Giro d’Italia in May.

And at the heart of all their plans must be Bernal. He has been considered a Grand Tour winner in waiting for a couple of years now, and the only surprise is that it came so soon. Before he had even sealed the jersey he was talking about his desire to keep winning, to earn a second and a third. It was not said with bravado but with the assertiveness of someone who is simply determined to maximise their unique talent. Bernal has a measured head on those young shoulders, and the cycling world at his feet.