Bernal's horror crash unites Colombia

Nation roots for Giro champ as he leaves hospital after multiple surgeries

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Egan Bernal’s horrific injuries – including almost 20 broken bones and two collapsed lungs – have united Colombia in solidarity as the country’s politicians all dialled down election rhetoric to support the cyclist.

At the weekend the reigning Giro d’Italia champion left hospital to continue his recovery at home two weeks after he rode into the back of a bus that had pulled over to allow a passenger to disembark. Reports suggest that Bernal, who was riding his time trial bike with several Ineos Grenadiers team-mates, was travelling between 55 and 65kph.

The accident left him with a 95% chance of being paraplegic, but seven successful major surgeries have ensured that he has no spinal cord damage and has not lost his mobility.

He has, however, suffered a broken femur, a fractured kneecap, fractured his T5 and T6 vertebrae as well as the C2 vertebrae, broken 11 ribs, one thumb and a metacarpal. He also lost a tooth.

Lisandro Rengifo, a journalist for the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, told Cycling Weekly that the country was in a state of shock. “People are very concerned and you notice how everyone is very sad. They know that he could have died,” Rengifo said.

Heartening recovery

“They understand that the situation is not easy, but at least the news from the hospital has been good. He is human, he can recover, but everyone accepts that there’s a high possibility he won’t return to the same level as before.