BOGOTA (Reuters) – Neurosurgery on Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal has “ended successfully,” the hospital where he was treated said on Tuesday, just hours after the former Tour de France winner slammed into a vehicle and injured his spine, legs and chest.
Bernal, who became the first South American to win the Tour in 2019 and added the Giro d’Italia to his list of achievements last year, hit a stationery bus while training with his Ineos Grenadiers team in Gachancipa, about 50 km north of Bogota, the Sabana University Clinic said. [ L1N2U422N]
The clinic said Bernal suffered “cervical and thoracic trauma, blunt chest trauma, musculoskeletal trauma and trauma to the lower limbs” in the “high energy” crash.
He was rushed to hospital by Ineos Grenadiers staff and late on Monday doctors performed a thoracostomy and operated on a fractured right femur and damaged kneecap.
Work on damaged discs in his spine “preserved their functionality and neurological integrity”.
“We hope to see a progressive evolution in the next 72 hours in the Intensive Care Unit,” the bulletin said.
The rehabilitation process will begin immediately, the clinic added.
The 25-year-old Bernal, who was the youngest rider to win the Tour in more than a century, recently extended his contract with Ineos Grenadiers to 2026.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota; writing by Andrew Downie; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
