Egan Bernal once again showed the strength that characterizes him and took third place on the podium of the Vuelta a Catalunya, after finishing 5 minutes and 3 seconds behind the champion Tadej Pogacar, who swept, winning four stages out of seven, already a minute and 22 seconds from Mikel Landa, who was second.
Two years ago I was struggling to walk again. She had been saved from dying and was almost left in a wheelchair after the accident in January 2022, when she collided with a bus that was dropping off a passenger on the Bogotá-Tunja road.
And a year ago, around this time, everything was an uncertainty for him. He was trying to find himself again, to become, first, a human being who lived through stormy moments and, then, a normal cyclist, without thinking that he had to, of necessity, become a winner again.
Today, after much sacrifice and hard work, Bernal recovers that feeling of the cyclist who may have the capabilities to fight for a podium in a World Tour race.
Egan Bernal (right), on the podium of the Tour of Catalonia, along with Mikel Landa (left), second, and Tadej Pogacar (cen.), champion.
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Egan said it recently: “If you had told me a year ago that at this point in the season I would have achieved the results I have achieved, the truth is, I wouldn't have believed it.”
The history of podiums began in 2018
This Sunday in Catalonia is the tenth podium for the Zipaquirá rider in the highest category of cycling. It all started in 2018, after escorting Primoz Roglic in the general classification in the Vuelta a Romandía. His first World Tour title was when he won the Tour of California, in a tough fight with Tejay van Garderen.
Precisely in Catalonia, in 2019 he finished third, behind Miguel Ángel López, champion, and Adam Yates, second. That same year he was first in the Tour of Switzerland and won the Tour de France, in a dream season that ended with third place in the Giro de Lombardia.
He went blank in 2020, did not obtain podiums in the WT and saved everything for the following year. The pain in his back took him out of any option to fight for something big. He even withdrew from the Tour de France when he was defending the title.
In 2021 he returned. He finished third in the Strade Bianche, escorting Julian Alaphilippe, second, and Mathieu van der Poel, champion.
He won the Giro d'Italia and with that victory the 'glorious' ended for Egan, as the brutal accident occurred and he did not return to any podium position in the World Tour.
It's been almost three years since he finished on the podium in a race in the major cycling leagues and he did so yesterday in Catalonia, in a sensational performance that only results in him, Ineos and an entire country getting excited about returning. Let's see how the winning cyclist he was.
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@LisandroAbel
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