BERNAL. Colombia holds its breath. Seriously injured on Monday, the former winner of the Tour de France will have to undergo new operations.
It was this Monday, January 24 during collective training that Egan Bernal, Colombian rider from the Ineos Grenadier team, hit a bus, shocking an entire country. Placed in intensive care at the La Sabana university clinic, near Bogota, the former winner of the Tour de France woke up after 32 endless hours of sleep.
What is Egan Bernal’s health?
Considered a national hero, Egan Bernal has multiple injuries. Juan Guillermo Ortiz Martinez, the general manager of the clinic very quickly revealed that the first scratches observed turned into a fracture of the femur and the patella, an affected spine, broken ribs and a punctured lung. If the cyclist’s state of health has been stabilizing and improving a little for a few days, the doctors at the clinic announced two new surgeries this Friday in order to consolidate a fracture of the second metacarpal of the right hand, and a another at the level of the jaw which presents a dento-alveolar displacement.
What are the causes of the bus accident?
Cycling in Colombia in the middle of traffic is a bit like playing with your life every minute, says Luis Barbosa, Colombian photographer for The Team. In detail, Egan Bernal had set off on the road leading from Bogota to Tunja for a training outing with his teammates Richard Carapaz, Andrey Amador, Brandon Rivera, Carlos Rodriguez and Omar Fraile. At the height of the town of Gachancipa, the rider was on his time trial bike launched at more than 50 km / h, his head plunged into the handlebars before violently hitting a bus in front of him which had stopped. L’Equipe, which consulted the police report, reveals even more details. “Traffic accident, Bogota-Tunja road km 33.8 Gachancipa sector, 10:05 a.m. Observation: a bus type vehicle stopped to drop off passengers. A black bicycle type vehicle, present on the same lane and in the same direction of traffic, does not see the vehicle in front of him stop and hits it from behind. Hypothesis of the accident: to be established. “