Sunday was supposed to be the final day of the 2020 Tour de France, but Egan Bernal was not on the Champs-Elysées, but rather pedaling with fellow Colombian pro riders on a chartered flight from Bogota to Madrid.

Bernal, who has been in Colombia since a coronavirus outbreak interrupted his season in March, will resume his campaign at La Route d'Occitanie (August 1-4) and ride the Tour de Ain and Criterium du Dauphiné before the Tour of Nice, which begins August 29 He will compete in the Tour de France.

The 2019 Tour champion was congratulated Thursday in a ceremony at the Cathedral of Salt in Zipaquia, where Mayor Wilson Garcia Fajardo presented him with the flag of his birthplace and the province of Cundinamarca before his departure for Europe.

According to El Tiempo (opens in new tab), "I don't promise to win the Tour de France, but I promise to do my best," Bernal said.

Last week it was announced that Chris Froome will move from Team Ineos to Israel Startup Nation in 2021.

"He's a champion. He wants to win. He's a leader and he wants to go out and explode in the race. That's admirable," Bernal said of Froome. Next year he will be a competitor and it will be difficult to compete with such a top level competitor. But he is still a teammate, still a friend, still with us in this Tour."

Bernal added that he pays little attention to speculation about the Team Ineos hierarchy in La Grand Boucle.

"A lot of people don't believe me, but I don't listen to what I'm told," Bernal said. 'It's on the bike that they talk. What they say may or may not be taken as psychological warfare. But I just have to isolate myself, train well, and go into the European race in the best shape I can. I don't like to watch a lot of news and it can be counterproductive."

Now that Ineos appears to have three potential leaders in its eight-man selection for the Tour, Bernal insisted that the situation is simpler than it looks; depending on their performance in the August race, he suggested, will determine the team's strategy for the Grande Palais.

"It's not complicated. It's about competing in the races before the Tour and showing that you are in good condition," Bernal said. The team has done a lot of preparation to win the Tour. Ineos will let me race. If I have to work for the other riders, I will and they will do the same. In cycling you can't lie and you will know who is riding better."

Bernal will travel to his European base in Andorra after arriving in Europe, ahead of a short and condensed race calendar. He said, "There are very few good races, so I think it's going to be pretty high."