(Bogota) Nearly twenty fractures, five operations and life hanging by a thread: Colombian cycling champion Egan Bernal admitted Thursday to competing in the “most difficult race” of his life, in a message sent from his place of convalescence.
Posted at 2:29 p.m.
“I had the last major surgery yesterday (Wednesday, editor’s note) and it seems that everything went well”, wrote the winner of the Tour de France 2019 on his Instagram account, all accompanied by two photos showing him very weak on his hospital bed.
The 25-year-old climber, the only Colombian winner of the Grande Boucle, took stock of his fractures after his January 24 accident: eleven ribs, a femur, a patella, two thoracic vertebrae, the odontoid (cervical), a metacarpal and a thumb. Bernal also specifies having lost a tooth in the accident and suffering from two perforated lungs.
The La Sabana clinic where he is in Bogota gave reassuring news after the last operation: “The objectives of stability of the cervical spine have been achieved with excellent clinical results, without complications”, specifies the establishment in a press release.
After undergoing five surgeries in less than ten days, Egan Bernal was discharged from the intensive care unit, according to the clinic.
“I almost killed myself but you know what? I am grateful to God for having made me live this test”, which is “the most difficult race”, adds Bernal on the social network.
The last winner of the Giro had an accident while training in Gachancipa, about thirty kilometers from Bogota. Riding on a time trial bike with Team Ineos teammates, he slammed into the back of a bus that had stopped on the pavement.
For now, the British team has not communicated on the period of unavailability of Bernal, nor if he would be able to participate in the next big tours.