Since his serious accident at the beginning of this 2022, Egan Bernal has been the clear example of the word resilience. After several surgeries in almost all of his body and therapies for his recovery, andhe Colombian cyclist returned to the roads in style, showing that he is very close to returning to the elite of cycling, where they await him with open arms.
During the last few months, Egan has concentrated on Europe, a continent where he has undergone a demanding training in order to get ready for the big competitions, and although his return has not been officially confirmed, he has shown that he can be very soon.
With videos and photos, the Ineos Grenadier cyclist has shown his courage and discipline to return to asphalt. An example of this has been the latest video published by Xabier Artetxe, a member of the British squad, who once again showed the whole world what he is made of Egan with demanding training in the mountains, and as if that were not enough, on a kind of terrato, a surface that gave him great joy in the last Giro d’Italia in 2021.
When will he come back?
The Ineos Grenadiers are counting down the days to witness Egan Bernal’s return to professionalism, after the serious accident he suffered in January and which left a huge unknown about his sporting future. Rod Ellingworth, director of the British squad, is positive about the Colombian’s recovery, to the point that he sees him competing with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, the new great figures in cycling.
The bosses of the UAE and the Jumbo, respectively, have dazzled the public in this Tour de France with their exciting battles in the mountains for a title that is already in the hands of the Dane, unless there is a catastrophe in the individual time trial of this Saturday.
Not even experienced runners like Geraint Thomas and Nairo Quintana have been able to stop the rush of a duo that will surely dominate cycling for many years, until someone who can stop them arrives. For Ellingworth, that could be Egan, even though his ability is in doubt after an accident as serious as the one he suffered at the beginning of the year after colliding with the rear of an intercity bus.
“We have a couple of guys that can scale similar speeds”Ellingworth told VeloNews, remembering that for this edition of the Tour they could not count on their best card. “I think Egan can scale at that rate,” he said.
It is clear that the Colombian will return to competition in 2022, but his great challenge will come next year when he returns to compete in one of the big three. “Obviously without Egan this year, he has made a huge difference to us as a team,” the director argued.
“That’s the biggest hit we’ve taken all year, but I think Egan is capable and, if I’m really honest, I think he has only scratched the surface of what he is capable of.”he pointed.