Just three days after the horror crash that left Egan Bernal needing spinal surgery, another Ineos Grenadiers rider, Brandon Rivera, has been injured in a crash while training in the same area of Colombia.
Rivera, who is part of the team's Colombian training camp and was in the group when Bernal crashed into a bus on Monday, now finds himself in the same hospital as his teammate and compatriot.
Ineos Grenadiers confirmed to Cyclingnews that the crash had occurred on Thursday afternoon, and reported he "suffered a fractured and dislocated elbow, and has dislocated his AC joint."
The news broke in the Colombian media earlier Thursday. The team will provide further information on the Colombian's condition as it becomes available.
Noticias RCN reports that Rivera was tended to by paramedics at the roadside before being taken to the Clinica Universidad La Sabana, the same hospital where Bernal remains in intensive care. The broadcaster had reporters there, covering Bernal, when an ambulance arrived, followed by Ineos staff, and Rivera was wheeled into the building.
There is, as yet, no indication as to the circumstances of the crash.
Rivera, 25, was part of an ill-fated Ineos training camp in the Cundinamarca region of Colombia. As well as Bernal, Richard Carapaz, Daniel Martinez, Andrey Amador, Carlos Rodriguez, and Omar Fraile are part of the pre-season camp.
The accidents were foreshadowed as videos emerged, a few days before Bernal's crash, of a dangerously close call with an oncoming car that was overtaking recklessly on the wrong side of the road.
Bernal fractured two vertebrae in the thoracic section of his spine, requiring urgent surgery, which was deemed a success as he maintained neurological function and mobility. He also broke his femur, kneecap, several ribs, and suffered a punctured lung, leaving him heavily sedated in intensive care, but hospital reports indicate he is responding to treatment as well as could have been hoped.
