Analysis: Egan Bernal's evolution from the crash that almost cost him his life to the 2023 Tour de France

Egan Bernal nearly lost his life in early 2022 after crashing into a bus north of Bogotá. He suffered multiple fractures all over his body, but by August of that year he was competing. He will now return to the Tour de France after an inspirational recovery.

In August he rode four stages of the Tour of Denmark and four stages of the Deutschland Tour. In September, he did not finish the Giro della Toscana on the 14th and a day later, on the 15th, he finished 28th in the Coppa Sabatini. There he said goodbye to his season to focus on preparing for 2023.

After a long winter in which we could see multiple videos of him training hard in Colombia, he made his debut on January 22 in the Vuelta a San Juan. He gave good sensations finishing fourth on the Alto del Colorado in the fifth stage ahead of men like Remco Evenepoel and Einer Rubio. However, he did not start the following day due to a crash the day before, which subsequently kept him out of the race for a couple of months.

He did not return until March 20 in the Volta a Catalunya, where he did not perform too well and from which he also had to withdraw. However, he was able to take part in the Itzulia where he finished 92nd overall: it didn't matter, finally more than a year after his fall he had been able to finish a stage race again.

It was April 8 and by then his chances of riding the Tour de France seemed remote due to his poor form. So INEOS Grenadiers offered him a tight schedule that included the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Hongrie, most likely eyeing the Vuelta a Espana at this point.

And in Romandie he again showed good sensations in the high mountains, finishing eighth at the top of Thyon 2000 and overall. Then, in Hungary, he was active, attacking and close to the top, also finishing eighth in the final classification.

These good performances earned Egan Bernal a change of plans and a place in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he confirmed the good sensations shown by finishing in the top 30 in all the road stages of the race and finishing 12th overall.

All this positive evolution has meant that, barring any last minute surprises, he will be in Bilbao on Saturday, July 1 for the Grande Départ of the Tour de France 2023. We can't expect him to fight for the overall win or to win a great mountain stage, but we can expect him to be of great help to his teammates and to feel like a top-level rider again.