Egan Bernal returned to Europe from Colombia on July 19 and will start the Tour de France on August 29 as leader of Team Ineos after riding the Route de Occitaine, Tour de Ain, and Criterium du Dauphiné in August.

The 2019 Tour de France winner has been in Colombia since March, when the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic shut down the world. He respected Colombia's strict blockade rules and ran indoors for several weeks until the mayor of his hometown of Zipaquila granted him and other local professionals permission to train outdoors at the end of April.

Since then, Bernal has increased his rides and logged many long rides that he describes as "apocalypses." Some of these rides exceeded seven hours.

Although Colombia has restricted all commercial flights until the end of August to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Colombian professional athletes have received special permission from the Ministry of Sports and the Colombian Cycling Federation to fly to Europe for the rescheduled season They can fly to Europe for the rescheduled season.

According to the latest reports, about 50 athletes will travel from Colombia to Madrid on a specially arranged charter flight on Sunday, July 19. The European Union has announced that other countries may also fly to Europe beginning July 1. The athletes will have to prove that they are not infected with the COVID-19 virus, but they will not have to go through quarantine upon arrival in Europe.

Bernal has not raced since the Tour Colombia in mid-February. This is because Team Ineos decided not to participate in Paris-Nice due to the risk of COVID-19 and the sudden death of Nicolas Portal.

According to several sources, Bernal will race 12 days before the Tour de France, completing most of his major training in the Colombian highlands before making an early return to competition. He will initially be based in the highlands of Andorra, but will move to Monaco by the end of the year.

Bernal will start the 2020 season on August 1-4 at La Route d'Occitanie, a mountain course in southwestern France, before competing in the Tour de l'Ain (August 7-9) in eastern France. He will likely stay in the region to scout key stages of the Tour de France in the Alps and run the Criterium du Dauphiné (August 12-16). The riders will gather in Nice on Wednesday, August 26, before the start of the road stages around Nice on August 29.

Team Ineos has not yet confirmed the race programs of Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, but both will also want to run the Criterium du Dauphiné after completing an important block of high-altitude training.

According to a Cycling News source, Team Ineos has created a long list of 10 riders for its eight-rider squad for the Tour de France, including Michał Kwiatkowski, Pavel Sivakov, Dylan Van Barre, Luke Rowe, Tao Ziohegan Hart, Andrei Amador, and Jonathan Castroviejo also made the long list.

Froome's presence in Team Ineos' Tour de France lineup may depend on his future with the team.

He is out of contract and Team Ineos has yet to make him a detailed offer; Cyclingnews revealed in mid-May that Froome was approached about a possible mid-season move to guarantee the Tour de France leader. A decision on his future is expected this week.

The Italian website "Tuttobici" reported that the new WorldTour team "Israel Start-Up Nation" has offered Froome a three-year contract to allow him to lead the team in its Tour de France debut, with a mid-season He indicated that he was prepared to try.

Any move would require the consent of Team Ineos director Dave Brailsford, and it is unclear whether he would be willing to let Froome leave before the Tour de France and become a major rival.