Egan Bernal's efforts to retake his place in the top tier of general classification riders, 12 months after a life-threatening crash, look set to be delayed further with news that he has pulled out of his next racing assignment.
The Tour and Giro winner abandoned Vuelta a San Juan last week due to a knee injury flaring up, even though he rode much better than expected on the uphill finish of stage 5. He placed 4th on the day and moved up to 4th overall. Now his plans to race in his native Colombia have been cancelled as the knee problem has lingered.
He had been due to start the Colombian national road race championships on Sunday but it has been confirmed in local media reports he is now out of that race as he does not want to aggravate the knee injury any further. He has also suggested as he was going much better than expected in Argentina last week and so wants to cool his form a little.
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The pain he has been experiencing in his left knee does not appear to be linked in any way to his crash last year. Instead, his team said he had a minor crash on the opening stage in Argentina, which flared up later in the race.
“The knee still continues to bother me and we know what knee injuries are like, so we are going to see how things go and make the best decisions. But as I’ve already said, I’m still thinking about the races in Europe,” Bernal told NoticiasRCN.
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“I'm fine. The truth is, after the result in San Juan, it surprised me a bit because I didn't expect to be at this level in January. We have to calm down a bit. The season is long. We know where we’ve come from and where we are going.”
It appears he still plans to start his European season at Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol in Spain, starting on February 15th.
In January last year, 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 was last year 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 last season and it failed to win a three-week race, 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.
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