Former Tour de France champion Egan Bernal has won his first race since a horrific training accident in 2022.
The 28-year-old Bernal won the time trial championship of his native Colombia on Thursday, ending a three-year title drought.
Bernal, who rides for British team INEOS Grenadiers, became the star of cycling in 2019 when he won the Tour at age 22. He was the first South American winner of cycling’s most prestigious race.
He added the Giro d’Italia crown in 2021, but months later he was badly injured when he crashed into a parked bus while training in Bogota. He suffered multiple injuries, including fracturing his right femur, right kneecap, several ribs and vertebrae as well as enduring a punctured lung and chest trauma.
“I had thought about retiring several times, but one day I promised myself that I would win again,” he wrote in Spanish. “I dedicate this to God for having given me a second chance to live. Many people have been part of this process and I can only give them my thanks.”
Bernal’s victory in the time trial was his second in the event after also winning it in 2018.
