Egan Bernal has thanked the medics who are treating him in hospital in Colombia, saying he was very close to losing the power of his legs, such was the seriousness of the collision.
"Having had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic and nearly losing my life doing what I love to do most, today I want to thank God, Clinica Usabana, all his specialists for doing the impossible, my family, (my wife) and all of you for your wishes. I'm still in the ICU waiting for more surgeries but trusting in God everything will be fine ," he has said on Twitter.
Ineos Grenadiers has also released a photo of Bernal in his hospital bed in Colombia after his crash during a training camp in his home country earlier this week.
Advertisement
While the 25-year-old Tour and Giro winner has a long road ahead to get back on his bike after the crash - during which he broke his femur, kneecap and several ribs and vertebrae - the team seemed relieved he was up to taking a selfie and sending it to them for publication.
It said it was "so happy" to share the photograph, adding "the road to recovery starts" with Bernal's hand gesture aimed at reassuring his fans he will be OK.
Related News
While he has already undergone two surgeries on the broken bones on his right leg and spine and to have blood and other fluids drained from his upper body, he faces two more surgical procedures tomorrow, Saturday.
Those procedures will address a fractured metacarpal in his right hand and dentoalveolar fractures in his mouth. His injuries were caused by the force with which he hit the back of a bus while he was riding at speed on his TT bike ahead of the Ineos Grenadiers group. He also suffered a punctured lung and a range of other injuries.
“Egan Bernal Gomez has continued with the expected recovery and with a favorable trend,” Clínica Universidad de La Sabana, where Bernal is being treated, has said in a statement on Friday.
“Egan continues with his rehabilitation plan, he has not shown signs of infection, he is also in good spirits and thanks to his improvement his vasopressor medication was withdrawn.”
Medical director Juan Guillermo Ortiz Martinez also offered an update, stating: “In addition to communicating his good state of health, we inform that at this time the patient is in a regeneration or tertiary trauma period. Therefore, tomorrow he will have two surgeries, which are secondary procedures that are not life-threatening,”
