Egan Bernal has announced his intention to skip the Giro d'Italia and focus on the 2020 Tour de France.

The 22-year-old, who this summer became the youngest winner of the Tour in more than a century, has made a final decision on his race program for next season, according to a Colombian newspaper report this week.

Bernal, who strongly hinted that he might target the Giro d'Italia when the 2020 route was announced in October, shortly after the 2020 Tour was announced, will instead be "100%" prepared to win the yellow jersey for the second time in two years.

According to El Tiempo, Bernal will start his 2020 campaign with the Colombian championships in Boyaca and will stay local for his first stage race, the Tour Colombia, held February 11-16.

With a similar program for 2019, he will head to Europe in March to defend his Paris-Nice title and then possibly compete in the Catalunya Volta. If there is no Giro, he will return to Colombia to train for the Tour, with either the Tour de Suisse, which he won last year, or the Criterium du Dauphiné as his final preparation race.

Bernal is serious about targeting the Giro, emphasizing the possibility of achieving the Giro-Tour double last successfully accomplished by Marco Pantani in 1998.

"I certainly want to return to the Tour, but I also want to ride the Giro," he said in October.

He was scheduled to make his Giro debut this year, but in a twist of fate, he broke his collarbone while preparing for the race and was forced to leave the Tour de France for glory. Bernal has strong ties to Italy, where he lived when he first moved to Europe.

In 2020, the Giro d'Italia will have three time trials and a mountain course in the final week, while the Tour de France will be more of a climber's race, with time trials throughout the three weeks and only one time trial finishing on a mountain course

The Tour de France is a more climber-oriented race.

Bernal was eager to race the Giro, but his decision was influenced by the Ineos team, which has more potential Grand Tour winners than it does Grand Tours. Newcomer Richard Karapas is expected to return to the Giro d'Italia and look to repeat his victory this year, while Geraint Thomas has indicated a preference for the Tour, having won it in 2018 and finishing second to Bernal this year.

Four-time Tour winner Chris Froome is also still recovering from a serious injury suffered in this year's Dauphiné and is fighting to make a full recovery in time for the Tour.