Egan Bernal is set to start his 2023 season at the Vuelta a San Juan as he targets a return to the Tour de France for the first time in three years. The Ineos rider missed most of this past season after he sustained life-threatening injuries in a horrific training crash in Colombia in January.
Earlier this week, Filippo Ganna confirmed his participation in the Vuelta a San Juan, which takes place from January 22 to 29, and the plan is for Bernal to join him in the Ineos line-up.
“Bernal will almost certainly start at the Vuelta a San Juan, in the heat of Argentina, and Ganna will be there too,” Ineos directeur sportif Matteo Tosatto told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Egan needs to build endurance and get some race rhythm, so I foresee some short stage races of five or six days to build up again: like Algarve, Ruta del Sol, Valenciana or the UAE Tour.”
Bernal spent two weeks in an intensive care unit following his training crash near Bogota on January 24, in which he suffered fractured vertebrae, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella, chest trauma, a punctured lung and several fractured ribs.
Barely two months later, however, the 25-year-old was back on his bike and resumed training with his Ineos team in July. He returned to competition at the Tour of Denmark in August, then lined out at the Deutschland Tour, Giro della Toscana and Coppa Sabatini before ending his season early to return to Colombia for a routine, joint-cleaning operation on his knee.
Bernal was back on the bike shortly afterwards, and he later attended Ineos’ pre-season planning camp in Nice in mid-October before setting off on a two-week holiday to Peru. According to La Gazzetta, Bernal has been working closely with Ineos' head doctor Rafael Santos during his rehabilitation. He will participate in an Ineos training camp in Mallorca in December.
“Resolving the problems with his knee has removed any doubt,” Tosatto told La Gazzetta. “He could set off relaxed on his holidays. He looked good, very determined. In Nice, he said to me: ‘I can start the season like I’ve always done, like a real rider, and not like an injured rider thinking about the pain he feels. I want to get back to who I was before.”
Bernal’s full race calendar for 2023 is yet to be decided, though Strade Bianche – where he placed third in 2021 – and Tirreno-Adriatico could also figure in his early schedule. “For the full programme, we’ll have to see how he goes in Spring,” said Tosatto.
La Gazzetta suggests that Ineos’ Giro line-up could feature Geraint Thomas, Ganna, Carlos Rodriguez and new arrival Thymen Aresman, while Bernal’s agent Giuseppe Acquadro said that the Colombian was aiming to return to the Tour, which he won in 2019. “If Bernal recovers and goes well, his Grand Tour will be the Tour de France," said Acquadro. "Ineos can’t do without him."
