Egan Bernal takes the next step in his rehabilitation on Tuesday when he begins an altitude training camp in Andorra. He is scheduled to train in the Pyrenees until July 25.
Although La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Monday that Bernal is eyeing a possible participation at the Vuelta a Burgos (August 2-6), a spokesperson from Ineos Grenadiers told Cyclingnews that no date has yet been set for the Colombian’s return to competition.
Bernal spent almost two weeks in an intensive care unit after he sustained serious injury in an horrific training crash near Bogota on January 24, and he later revealed that he had risked losing his life or being left paralysed in the incident.
The 2019 Tour de France winner suffered fractured vertebrae, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella, chest trauma, a punctured lung and several fractured ribs, but he was back on the bike within two months of the crash.
Dr. Gustavo Uriza, who oversaw treatment of Bernal’s injuries, told a medical conference in Colombia in April that he believed the rider could make a rapid return to full training and competition.
That statement prompted speculation that Bernal might even pin on a race number as early as May, but Ineos Grenadiers quickly dismissed the possibility. “It’s way too early to predict when he might come back,” deputy team manager Rod Ellingworth told Cyclingnews at the time. “There’s just no point in even putting a date out there.”
Bernal has based himself in Europe since early May in order to work more closely with his Ineos team as he continues his rehabilitation. Speaking at an event in Cuneo later that month, Bernal confirmed that he was training two hours a day on the bike as well as undergoing physiotherapy and working in the gym.
Bernal’s three-week stint in Andorra, where he will train in the company of Carlos Rodríguez, Pavel Sivakov, Laurens De Plus and Ethan Hayter, highlights the progress he has had made, even if his Ineos team insisted that no race schedule has yet been drawn up.
