Return after 20 broken bones: Will Egan Bernal be back to his old self?

It's the little moments that remind you that Egan Bernal is actually one of the best professional cyclists in the sport. One such moment came at the start of the Tour of Catalonia. With a short attack before the final intermediate sprint, Bernal outsprinted Tadej Pogacar and secured the three-second time bonus. An action in the style of a top rider - and Bernal is undoubtedly one.

However, he is also someone who has had bad luck on his side for years. This was also evident at the start in Catalonia. Bernal was involved in a crash on the uphill finishing straight. Bruises and grazes were the result. Nothing serious. And yet more scars on the body and blows to the mind.

20 broken bones in Egan Bernal after training accident in 2022

For Bernal, however, the fact that the 27-year-old is still alive and cycling is his greatest stroke of luck. In January 2022, Bernal crashed his time trial bike into a stationary bus during training. He suffered 20 broken bones, including eleven ribs, a femur, a kneecap and parts of the second cervical vertebra. Both lungs were injured. Bernal only narrowly escaped paraplegia. "My first goal was to be able to walk well again and lead a normal life," Bernal once said. The accident cut his career in two: the successful time before and the rehabilitation as a professional cyclist afterwards.

Since then, the cycling world has been looking for the slightest sign of the old Bernal, the rider who took two Grand Tour victories. The previous year, in which the Colombian once again contested a full season, proved to be less than revealing in terms of results. Bernal mostly moved through the races anonymously, even if he was able to keep up with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana two major national tours, which was undoubtedly important for his race fitness. This season, however, the positive tendencies are unmistakable.

Egan Bernal: "I felt like the Egan of old"

Bernal's statements in the Colombian newspaper at the beginning of the year seemed almost exuberant Ciclismo Colombianoafter finishing the national road championship in third place. "I had nostalgic feelings in the race because I felt like the Egan of old. I didn't care if I got dropped on the climb, I just went for it - that's how I used to race, without fear, and that's how I felt again," Bernal wrote.

This was followed by third place overall in the four-day O Gran Camino tour and seventh place in the Paris-Nice. And also with the Tour of Catalonia the upward trend continued despite an early crash, with Bernal finishing third overall - his first podium at a World Tour event in three years. He did not always ride consistently at the front, but finished second on the decisive queen stage. "I didn't really expect that," said Bernal afterwards. "I'm just happy and really motivated to keep working now."

So will Bernal soon be a man for the big victories again? The gap to his previous performances and successes still seems large, to say the least. Until his accident, Bernal was regarded as the best classification rider in the world and regularly finished at the top of stage races - including the Tour de France in 2019 at the age of 22. It was his first Grand Tour victory, but the experts had already added several - after all, Bernal was destined to shape an era. In 2021, he also won the Giro d'Italia.

Successful comeback for Egan Bernal with victory at Giro d'Italia 2021

However, even then Bernal's career was not a high-flying one, but was characterised by setbacks: Fractures to his shoulder blade and collarbone at the Tour of Catalonia in 2018, a brain haemorrhage and knocked-out teeth at the Clasica San Sebastian in the same year, and in 2019 he broke his collarbone again in the spring. A year later, he had to abandon the Tour de France due to knee and back problems, followed by a longer break. It's not too far-fetched to say that Bernal spent more days in treatment than racing.

Bernal has always come back from all these low phases, both physically and mentally. A strength that certainly helped him after his momentous accident in January 2022. He also had to come to terms with his early Tour victory. "I won the Tour at the age of 22 and didn't know what to do with my life. It was everyone's dream, it was like - what now?" Bernal once said. A hole in his motivation, then back problems, a mix of doubt and pain. It wasn't until he won the Giro in 2021 that he found his way out of this valley. So he knows this path.

However, the Bernal of 2019 and 2021 is probably the wrong benchmark anyway. Cycling has changed enormously since then, the predicted Bernal era has been taken over by Pogacar, the Tour de France is firmly in the hands of Jonas Vingegaard. There are also exceptional talents such as Remco Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso. Competing at this level is a huge challenge - even for the Bernal of earlier years. The Colombian also realised this at the Tour of Catalonia when he had to let Pogacar go on the queen stage. "Tadej is on a different level. That's why I didn't even try to follow him," said Bernal afterwards.

Egan Bernal as captain for the Tour de France?

For the Colombian, the realisation remains: he is back in the upper echelons of the results lists - that is more than many ever gave him credit for after his serious accident. He also has time on his side. Both are an immense benefit for the head. At the still young age of 27, Bernal is only two years older than Pogacar, which is often overlooked.

Whether he can win a Grand Tour again in the future will be revealed later in the season when Bernal is at the start of the Tour or the Vuelta - and is possibly even Ineos' best option as captain, given the current situation. It would be the final test of where he stands in terms of performance. But even without another Grand Tour victory, a successful second stage of Bernal's career is still open to him - be it in the classics, shorter tours or by winning stages. His talent has at least not been lost, as the first weeks of the 2024 season have shown.

"I wake up every day with the thought of getting back to my best level," said Bernal last year, adding: "If that were no longer possible, I would end my career." However, he seems a long way from that at the moment.