"I was screaming in pain" - Egan Bernal recalls terrifying near-death experience after January 2022 crash

Although completing two Grand Tours in 2023 is a positive sign of Egan Bernal's continued recovery, in truth the diminutive Colombian remains some way off the level that saw him take victory at both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.

All this can be traced back to January 2022 when Bernal suffered a terrible crash. "I remember everything and that's the worst thing," Bernal says in conversation with Geraint Thomas on the Welshman's podcast, recalling details of the incident that left him with a broken vertebra, a broken right femur, a broken right patella, chest trauma, an expanded lung and several rib fractures. "I remember the seconds before the fall on the time trial bike and I felt very good and was very happy because I was going too fast. Then I looked at my bike computer and saw that I was going 62kph. But one moment later I was on the ground."

"I knew that I had fallen, but not whether I had hit a person, a motorcycle or a car," continues the INEOS Grenadiers star. "After a minute I started to feel the pain. It was absolutely everywhere. Rafa Santos, our team doctor, was there and saved my life. He did everything he could to get me to the hospital in the best possible conditions, but at the same time I was screaming in pain."

What made things worse for Bernal was that no pain relief was available at the scene. "I asked him something to ease the pain, but of course that was not possible. He only had paracetamol with him, so that was not possible," he explains. "One part of a bone had also torn open the other part, so they put it back in place on the side of the road. I had also broken twelve to thirteen ribs, so the pain was all over the place. In the hospital, I kept shouting in pain and they gave me something to help me sleep."

A deeply religious man, Bernal counts himself lucky to have survived. "When people ask me if I am angry about the incident, I always answer that I was very lucky. I have to thank God because he gave me a second chance. It's really amazing that I survived a crash at over 60 miles per hour and I'm able to work and live a normal life," he says.

"After such an accident you realize that life as a cyclist is special, but that life is also more than just cycling. I am also happier with the little things now than before the accident, because I am happy to be alive."