In hindsight, Egan Bernal was moving a little gingerly when he walked over to speak to a group of reporters atop Alto Colorado after stage 5 of the Vuelta a San Juan, but it was easy to overlook it at the time. It could just have been the effects of racing hard at 2,600 metres above sea level.
Bernal certainly didn’t betray any concern during his upbeat assessment of his performance on the toughest stage of the race, a significant waypoint on the long journey back from the crash that almost ended his career a year ago. Fourth place on the stage seemed to augur well for the year ahead.
“I think we can be happy and calm about the process,” Bernal smiled beneath his Ineos Grenadiers team’s canopy beyond the finish line.
A day later, the mood music changed abruptly when Bernal abandoned just kilometres into the penultimate stage. Ineos Grenadiers team moved quickly, however, to clarify that the left knee pain that forced him out was not a lingering residue of last year’s horrific crash, but a more minor complaint, caused by a fall on the opening day of the Vuelta a San Juan.
“Egan fell in the same crash as Quinn Simmons on the first stage,” director sportif Xabier Zandio said ahead of Sunday’s final stage.
“He fell, but it wasn’t so bad at the time, it was a pretty light blow to his left knee. For the first day, he had a bit of discomfort, but it didn’t affect him on the bike. On the mountain stage, he felt a bit of discomfort, and he felt it again on yesterday’s stage, so he pulled out as a precaution.”
While there will be considerable relief that Bernal’s pain was not in the same knee he fractured in January of last year, any injury of this kind brings with it a degree of preoccupation.
“It’s never good to have pain in your knee, so that’s always a small worry, but it’s not serious,” Zandio said. “He’s been assessed and it’s not very worrying, so he should be able to recover in a few days.”
Bernal was scheduled to race the Colombian Championships in Bucaramanga next weekend, but it is not yet clear whether he will be passed fit to race.
Zandio stressed that his racing schedule on European roads would not be affected by this setback.
“For him, it’s important to race at home but we’ll see during the week whether he races or not. We’re optimistic,” Zandio said.
“It’s still possible that he rides the National Championships, but that’s not what we’re thinking about, we’re thinking more about the future. We’re thinking about the races in Europe and the season in general. And this isn’t something that’s going to change his plans going forward for the rest of the season.”
A test of fitness in the mountains
Although Bernal returned to competition at the Deutschland Tour last August, his presence at the Vuelta a San Juan marked the beginning of a new phase as he builds towards a planned tilt at the Tour de France in July. Speaking ahead of the race, he had struck an upbeat note, suggesting his condition this January was in line with previous years.
Bernal put that hypothesis to the test on the two toughest climbs of the race. On stage 4 to Barreal, precisely a year and a day after the crash that changed everything, he went on the offensive on the Gruta Virgen de Andacollo, soloing clear from the peloton and bridging across to the break.
Patchy television coverage meant the acceleration was not captured live in glorious technicolour but observers from within the race convoy were struck by Bernal’s rapid pace on the climb. Although Bernal and the escapees were reeled in on the long descent that followed, the intelligence gathered was encouraging.
“We spoke about it beforehand, because we saw the terrain was difficult in the first 90km, so it was a day to try,” Zandio said.
“In the end, Egan went away alone, but if some GC rivals had gone with him, it could have been a good opportunity. In any case, it was a good test before the rest day.”
A more robust examination came on Alto Colorado and again, the initials signs were heartening. Although Bernal was unable to follow Miguel Ángel López’s race-winning attack with 7.5km to go, he was among the best of the chasers, reaching the finish fourth at 40 seconds – and almost half a minute clear of world champion Remco Evenepoel.
“The level of the climbers here was very high so to be up there with them was a very good sign for the future,” Zandio said. “López was superior to everyone else, but I think this race was a much bigger objective for him in his season too.”
A week of considerable promise ended with a setback, as Bernal withdrew just 18km into the penultimate stage. Even so, Zandio, insisted the Vuelta a San Juan had brought more good news than bad for Bernal.
“He’s still very optimistic. He’s motivated and focused and keen to return to competition,” Zandio said.
“He was very focused on the mountain stage to see where he was relative to his rivals, and he was very happy with that. I think that’s been the important thing from this week, to pass that important test. That was positive, so he’s happy.”
