Egan Bernal faces a big season this year; one that may define the rest of his career after his life-threatening crash back in January. While the Tour and Giro winner returned to the peloton before the end of the 2022 campaign, he was relatively anonymous and must make a bigger impact next season.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider has been ramping up the miles at home in Colombia and yesterday posted a 270km ride on Strava - at 38.5kph average speed and with elevation gain of 2,575 metres. Bernal has also been posting videos of himself being paced behind motorbikes as he builds up to relaunch his career again in the next couple of months.
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He rode his seven-hour session with a number of other Colombian pros - including Brandon Rivera - but has been peeling off on his own for efforts behind one of the moped riders accompanying him out on the road, including his father.
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“We all deserve someone to take care of us like my dad does for me. My guardian angel on the road,” Bernal wrote about his father, who is clearly putting in a big effort looking after his son. “He comes to my house every day when I am still sleeping to get everything ready for training, and leaves in the evening when he leaves the bike washed for the next day.”
Last January Bernal was at a team training camp in Colombia when he crashed into the back of a bus, which had pulled in by roadside. He was on his TT bike at the time and clearly riding at high speed as the impact almost cost him his life.
He broke about 20 bones and faced multiple surgeries, after which it took him some weeks before he could walk again while wearing an upper body brace. He said he had a 95 per cent of being paralysed but has thankfully been able to return to racing after a long rebab; lining out at Tour of Denmark in mid August.
His crash meant Ineos Grenadiers was left with a weakened Grand Tour line-up and it failed to win a three-week race last year, though Geraint Thomas was 3rd at the Tour. This season should offer insight into whether Bernal can return to his former level, with questions already hanging over him before his crash due to an ongoing back problem. Bernal won the Tour de France in 2019 and in 2021 he returned to form after his back issues and took overall victory in the Giro.
