Egan Bernal was hailed as “incredibly inspirational” after earning his first Grand Tour stage win in four-and-a-half years at La Vuelta to complete a remarkable comeback from a near-fatal crash.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider suffered a horror crash in his native Colombia in January 2022 when he rode at high speed into a stationary bus.
Bernal said afterwards that “some people thought I was dead” after suffering 20 different fractures and being told by doctors he had a 95 per cent chance of becoming paraplegic.The 28-year-old, who won the Tour de France in 2019, had to relearn how to walk during a painstaking recovery process, but incredibly returned to racing seven months later, before claiming a superb Stage 16 win at La Vuelta.The Breakaway team of Orla Chennaoui, Matt Stephens and Adam Blythe were in awe of Bernal’s tenacity when discussing his victory on TNT Sports’ coverage of La Vuelta, live on discovery+.
“A huge day. That lad has gone through everything you could possibly go through as a bike rider,” Blythe said.
Bernal wins Stage 16 after protests force late cancellation of final climb
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“Learning to walk again, getting back on his bike and learning to ride his bike again, to the position he’s in now.
“He’s definitely an inspiration to a lot of people, for what you can go through and still be as successful as he is.
“It’s just remarkable. I think the character he is, never giving up, showing riders and people in every walk of life that you should never give up.
“He got to the point where he was super fit again, but then he crashed and broke his collar bone at the start of the season, so he had to fight all that again.
“You think about everything he’s gone through and has done, to keep having these problems, you would probably think ‘I just can’t do this anymore’.
“But here he is, that shows what it’s all about, what it’s worth to him, that you can get to that point again. He’s just a great human being.”
Bernal’s triumph in Spain came in strange circumstances, with the final climb of Stage 16 cancelled due to protests near the summit.
‘Issues, issues!’ – Vingegaard takes team-mate’s bike after puncture
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An alternative finish was hastily arranged, and the Colombian held off breakaway partner Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) to claim a victory that was widely celebrated in the cycling community.
As Stephens pointed out, Bernal has not only fought his way back, but he is riding better than ever in an extremely competitive era in the sport.
“Remarkably, given the journey he’s undertaken, the injuries he’s had to come back from, with all the setbacks Adam has just described, he has been producing his best numbers ever. That includes his Tour de France win and his Giro d’Italia win,” Stephens said.
“He has emerged fit again in this new environment. It’s only a couple of years down the road, but we know cycling has changed dramatically. For him to win now is even more remarkable.
“One of the things that is a tenet of his set of beliefs since the incident is the fact that nothing fazes him anymore because he’s alive.
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“We are talking not just about catastrophic injuries where his family were told he may be paraplegic. He was never told that, it was actually that he may die.
“So every day he’s alive is a blessing, in his view. So that’s why I think he’s able to be so ridiculously pragmatic and embrace everything that’s thrown at him and ultimately remain the champion that he is and an amazing human being who is just incredibly inspirational.
“I think the whole cycling world and us lot are more than happy he got that win. He doesn’t just deserve it, it feels like it’s the right thing to have happened.”
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