Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) finished second behind his main Tour de France rival Primoš Roglic and sought composure at the finish of the Tour de Ain despite being outclassed by the team for all three stages of the three-day race.

Roglic finished second, first, and then first again to take the overall win, 18 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana. The Tour de France is only a few weeks away, but Logrich's dominance, and that of his team, Jumbo Visma, was outstanding.

The Dutch Jumbo Visma sent three riders into the top five, with Tom Dumoulin making his return to racing for the first time since last June.

On stage 3, Bernal had his team set a blistering pace on the approach to the final climb of the Grand Colombier, and Geraint Thomas ran out before the road began to turn up. Andrei Amador, Chris Froome, and the impressive Jonathan Castroviejo took turns at the front, and Bernal tried to put pressure on Roglic's lead. However, Roglic, Dumoulin, George Bennett, and Steven Kruizweig held firm.

Bernal had some difficulties on the long climb up the Grand Colombier, but recovered in the final stages, at least isolating Roglic from the team. Race leader Roglic responded by accelerating and dropping Bernal just before the finish line.

"Today we proved that we can run at a very fast pace," Bernal said at the finish.

"We raced our race, not only here but also in La Route d'Occitanie, and we should be happy with that result. Our big goal is the Tour."

Asked if he was concerned about the performance of both Thomas and Froome, the Colombian tried to ease the pressure on the team's shoulders: instead of the 2019 Tour winner, the Tour de France is still a few weeks away and the Tour de Ain is the main Instead, the Tour de Ain reminded the assembled media that the Tour de France was still weeks away and that it was merely a warm-up race before the main event.

"That's not true. This is a race to prepare for the Tour. Big riders from other teams also fell early today. That doesn't mean they won't be able to make it to the top of the GC at the Tour de France," he said.

"I need to stay calm. We want to train well, for sure, but we will be at the top of the GC at the Tour de France."

Jumbo Visma already knows its lineup for the Tour de France, having announced its eight-man team several months ago. Meanwhile, Team Ineos has some important decisions to make, including Chris Froome.

Four-time Tour winner Chris Froome showed flashes of form on the final climb, but the tougher test will be Bernal later in the week, and Thomas will get his revenge at the Criterium du Dauphiné. As for Jumbo Visma, the momentum is there, but as Bernal correctly pointed out, the Tour is still weeks away.