spine, thighs, knees
Bernal is fighting for a career after a horror crash
01/25/2022, 06:24 p.m
Colombian cycling star Egan Bernal was seriously injured in an apparently unrestrained collision with a stationary bus. After several operations, the next few days will decide what impact the accident will have on his career.
Broken spine, broken thigh, open fracture of the kneecap: The medical bulletin after the serious fall of professional cyclist Egan Bernal reads like a horrific report and makes it clear to every layman that the former winner of the Tour de France is fighting to continue his career. After several operations, the Clinica Universidad de La Sabana north of Bogotá received a slight all-clear on Tuesday night. Bernal is stable, everything else will show in the next 72 hours.
“Get well soon, Champ,” wrote the German professional cyclist Simon Geschke on Twitter, adding to the enormous sympathy in the cycling scene worldwide. “My friend, I wish you a speedy recovery. You are a champion and you will prove it again,” wrote two-time Spanish Tour winner Alberto Contador. “Egan, I’m looking forward to racing with you again,” said three-time world champion Peter Sagan.
Colombia’s President Iván Duque also wished the cycling star a speedy recovery. Since becoming the first South American to win the tour in 2019, Bernal has been a national hero. The drivers’ association CPA warned that Bernal’s accident shows once again how risky the sport is and how much still needs to be done for safety.
Training colleagues stand next to them in horror
The pictures after the crash alone give you goosebumps. Bernal’s bike is completely destroyed on a street near his hometown of Bogotá, his thigh is unnaturally deformed, his training colleagues are standing next to him in horror, and a red bus has an enormous body damage to the rear. Bernal crashed his time trial bike into the stationary bus on Monday. Speculation remains as to whether it was carelessness on the part of the Giro winner that led to the fatal impact.
Bernal is now in intensive care for at least three days. After the operation on the thoracic vertebrae, the clinic reported that the functionality and neurological integrity could be preserved. The consequences for his life and career are not yet foreseeable. It sounds unlikely that Bernal will be seen again in a race this year. His team Ineos wrote on Twitter in the afternoon that Bernal’s condition was stable and that his other injuries were being treated in the intensive care unit.
The accident is reminiscent of the serious crash of former Ineos driver Chris Froome. The four-time Tour winner was caught in June 2019 at the Dauphiné while inspecting the route of the individual time trial by a gust of wind and thrown against a house wall. Among other things, Froome had suffered a complicated femoral fracture and has not been able to regain his former level of performance to this day. Whether this fate threatens Bernal is completely open. The 25-year-old should at least benefit from the fact that he was almost ten years younger than Froome at the time of his accident.