The impressive recovery of Egan Bernal following broken collarbone at Clásica Jaén: "Three days later he was training again"
Cycling
Egan Bernal started the 2025 season with promising double national title, but the excitement rapidly cooled down after a disaster struck at Clásica Jáen. The Colombian lost balance in one of the gravel turns and crashed, causing a fracture of collarbone. It seemed like Bernal's spring was doomed, but he quickly recovered with a 7th place at Volta a Catalunya.
"He was hoping for a bit more on those two first mountain stages and stage 6 was a important test that finally we weren't able to see. I think we can still take confidence from it, though for sure without that test there's still going to be a little bit of wondering in the mind," sports director Zak Dempster told Cyclingnews. "But we just have to continue the process, it is what it is, we still have full confidence, that's for sure."
Giro d'Italia is now the Colombian's big objective. Asked if he would be doing more racing prior to the Giro as a result of missing out on that high mountains stage, Dempster said, "No. The plan is to get back to training and we just continue with the current plan."
The crashes seem to be haunting INEOS' GC leaders so far this year, but compared to Carlos Rodríguez, Bernal was dealt a good hand. Rodríguez who broke his collarbone badly in the UAE Tour, running the same time as the Clásica Jaén, will be sidelined until mid-April. "Carlos had a more complicated fracture that he couldn't get surgery on and it meant that we just had to do the best thing for his health."
"Carlos is rested fully and now he's back on the bike," and although a date has not yet been set for his return to racing, a definitive assessment for when that could be is due mid-April, Dempster says. "But in Egan's case, three days later he was training again."
"I visited Egan in the hospital and he was even pushing to do Ruta [Vuelta a Andalucia which began two days after Jaén, ed.] because he said he felt so good. But that's Egan, isn't it?" Dempster said with a grin. "You've never lucky to break a bone, but in this case it was quick, which is always better."
"It'd be hard to find a more resilient guy," said Dempster. "He's a guy that leads through his actions, and he speaks up, he's not afraid to say what he thinks. He's been through a lot and to have him there as an example, not only for the riders but for everyone, is very important and we shouldn't overlook that fact."
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- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025
- Tricky one as while I agree Pogi and UAE are simply faster over a long distance which means Visma and MVP need to be as smart with energy use as can, it's also been proven in the past that one way for Pogi to be beaten is relentless attacks, to put him into the red. However that does require a rider to as good as sacrifice themselves for that one move which makes riskHoopoeChai07-04-2025
- Even if not technically against the rules, this is just bad etiquette and frankly I hope the rest of pelaton remembers Arkea don't care about etiquette or honoring tradition which means they shouldn't benifit from it.HoopoeChai07-04-2025
- The other issue is that Mad Petersen and Wout would have let MVDP do most of the work, as he kept showing he was stronger. MVDP did the strategy with the highest likelihood of victory, he just wasn't strong enough.acem8207-04-2025
- Crash did not help, Out of position for first attack did not help, illness did not help, pacing was not the best either. MVDP has never raced to his limits against other riders but this is his characteristics when he cracks, he cracks big time just like his first elite men WC RR. Against Pogi he needed to be optimized and he is notabstractengineer07-04-2025
- Yes, I completely agree! Before going to a doctor, I give my immune system time to react. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I'm not cured, then I go to the doctor. Fortunately, I haven't needed a doctor in years!
maria2024202407-04-2025 - A lot of medicine does nothing more than speed up recovery time 4-5 days instead of 7-8, 10-12 instead of 2 weeks. It is questionable if it’s really a good thing for healthy people to rely on it as it also makes your immune system lazy and less responsive next time round, making you more and more reliant on medication (surprise, surprise). A bit like glasses, the less you succumb to adapting their strength, the slower the deterioration. Unfortunately many bacterial infections are not so easy to fight without help, your body should manage in the end but it can take really long, I once had strong fever for 3 months trying to fight an infection without reducing work or lifestyle (the antibiotics at the beginning didn’t help).Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- In this case, maybe is my fault (my ignorance). Fortunately, my family hasn't been sick for many, many years, so I can't say if doctors in Italy are still old-fashioned. When we catch a cold (very mild, nothing that requires medical attention), we recover completely in about a week. This may have reinforced my belief in the 7-day cure. Thank you so much, MisterMmaria2024202407-04-2025
- I appreciate the No Excuses thing...bobo07-04-2025