Egan Bernal: Ineos Grenadiers star to skip Vuelta a Andalucia due to knee injury - 'No point risking it'
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Published 14/02/2023 at 19:05 GMT
Egan Bernal has had rotten luck with injuries over the past few seasons. First troubled by a long-standing back complaint, the Colombian almost saw his career ended after a horror crash last year and is now recovering from a fresh knee injury. Bernal still harbours ambitions of returning to the Tour de France, where he won the yellow jersey in 2019. Stream the 2023 cycling season on discovery+.
'It's amazing' - Pogacar basks in 'perfect' start to season
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) will miss the Vuelta a Andalucia this week as he battles to overcome his latest injury.
The 26-year-old, who has endured an injury nightmare since winning the Giro d'Italia in 2021, withdrew from the Vuelta a San Juan in January with a knee complaint and also missed the Colombian Championships.
It was hoped he would recover in time for the five-stage race in Spain, which starts on Wednesday, but he will now give it a miss and reportedly target Paris-Nice in March.
An Ineos Grenadiers spokesperson told Cyclingnews: "Egan’s left knee is still not 100% race ready following his crash in San Juan, and much as he’d like to race there is no point risking its recovery.
"We’re optimistic about him being back racing in the next couple of weeks."
Last month, Bernal opened up to Eurosport about his extraordinary battle to return to bike racing following a horror crash in his native Colombia in January 2022.
He suffered 20 different fractures – including in his spine, femur and kneecap – after smashing into a stationary bus at 40mph on his time trial bike, leaving him requiring multiple surgeries and significant medical treatment.
Bernal made an incredible return to the peloton at the Tour of Denmark in August – less than seven months after the crash he says nearly killed him – and is now targeting a return to the Tour de France, where he won the title in 2019.
"I spent many hours in the operating theatre. I was even told that some people thought I was dead, and there was also a good chance that I would be in a wheelchair, so I really didn't think I would be able to get back on a bike," he said.
"The first days you have to learn to walk again, it's super complicated.
"To be able to eat, just to wash my mouth, to be able to shower. Those were the first things I had to learn. And just to do that, it took me two months.
"So imagine if just to walk, to wash your mouth, it takes you two months, then how long it's going to take me to get back to a competitive level in a peloton... it was hours of work. But I had the support of my family, of the whole team and it was a big team effort."
- - -
Stream the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement