Cycling and its epic, its comedy and tragedy, life stories that enthrone their passengers. The story, half Esperanza and half chilling, by Egan Bernal, the first Colombian winner of the Tour de France (2019) who returned to life after a … Agonizing accident in 2022, the body made porridge, a medical part of the size of a Ken Follet’s book, and won again three years after the tremendous blow. Almost four springs later of his last success, the 2021 Italian turn that ruled with iron fist.
Egan Bernal has just been proclaimed national champion of counterreloj and is on the edge of crying in Bucaramanga, headquarters of the test. The emotion infects the public present in the goal, the cyclist’s couple – the veterinary Mafe Motas -, to his parents Germán Bernal and Flor Marina Gómez and his brother, Roland Steven, also a cyclist. Bernal, who continues to run for the British team ineos, the same with which he won the tour, displays his intense mood and faith at that time that for all is endearing.
«1,347 days And many things happened since my last victory, today National Course Champion. I thought about retiring several times, but one day I promised that if I won again again, the first one would dedicate it to God for giving me my second chance to live, ”he writes on his social networks.
The succinct description of its history does not exaggerate an apex. The Zipaquirá corridor was dying three winters ago, closer to the cemetery than the asphalt.
On January 24, 2022, Bernal pilots his bike at full fuse in the only training field that cyclists know, a road open to traffic. He is one of the best runners in the world, winner of the Tour de France with 22 years, winner of the Italian Giro , Van der poel, go aert …
Bernal conducts his counterreloj goat (triathlete handlebar, aerodynamic position, lower center of gravity) next to the Spanish Carlos Rodríguez, squeezes the step until he reaches 62 kilometers per hour, a sparklel launched on the tar. His eyes do not notice the red bus of the Alliance company, ‘his line of trust’ says the slogan, standing on the shoulder. The impact is brutal.
The Colombian crashes against the rear of the coach, which is abolished on the left side at the intermittent, his body is shattered, but at least he is lucky. Is not alone, As is usually the case in the training of thousands of cyclists around the world. He is accompanied by other cyclists of the INEOS and the team’s staff, concentrated in the Colombian mountains to collect red blood cells.
Twenty broken bones
The medical part is a horror novel. Twenty broken bonescervical and thoracic trauma, closed thorax trauma, musculoskeletal trauma, trauma in lower limbs, thoracic lesion, dislocation of vertebrae, hernia disc, medullary compression, lung perforation, pneumothorax, several broken ribs, femur and the knee undo. . Doctors manage to release the spinal cord, reduce compression.
The cyclist reappears four days after the accident, piped and with a collar in bed. «After having a 95% probability of being paraplegic And I almost lose my life by doing what I like the most, I want to thank God because I am alive, ”he says.
It is a mantra that will repeat from now on, on his return to cycling, where he has not managed to approach the champion he was. “I’m happy Because I’m alive», He tells ABC in a reduced talk with journalists during the return to San Juan of 2023.
Egan Bernal is now 28 years old and, if he can, a path to rebuild in cycling. But never forget the important, it’s alive.
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