Doctors focusing on pain management as Egan Bernal remains in intensive care

The Colombian cyclist collided with a bus in his home country while training

Egan Bernal lost yet more time on stage 10 of the Vuelta
(Image credit: Getty)

Doctors treating Egan Bernal in hospital in Colombia are focused on managing his pain while he stays in intensive care.

Eight days after the Ineos Grenadiers rider collided with a bus during a training ride with some of his teammates in his home country, the 25-year-old remains in a serious but stable condition.

The reigning Giro d'Italia champion fractured his femur, kneecap, vertebrae and some of his ribs, as well as suffering a punctured lung and chest trauma in the incident.

In the latest update from Juan Guillermo Ortiz Martínez, the director general of the Clinica Universidad de La Sabana hospital where Bernal is being treated, the doctor reported that the cyclist was progressing well and they had confidence in his recovery.

He said: "We continue to be very focused on pain management and providing a safe and supervised mobilisation with the support of an interdisciplinary team.

"We have carried out diagnostic control images and are permanently monitoring his evolution to define the lines of treatment."

Over the weekend, the hospital reported that Bernal had shown no signs of infection and that he continues to receive nutritional support to feed him."

Bernal posted a social media update on Friday, revealing that he had a 95 percent chance of becoming a paraplegic and almost lost his life.

He wrote: "I'm still in the ICU waiting for more surgeries but trusting in God that everything will be fine."

Messages of support have came in around the world for Bernal, with Chris Froome using his YouTube channel to ask that people do not start speculating about the Colombian's potential return to cycling. "We should simply leave him alone," the four-time Tour de France winner said.

Froome himself had a serious accident in 2019 when he crashed into a wall just before a time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné. He returned to the peloton less than a year later.

Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Chris Marshall-Bell

Chris first started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2013 on work experience and has since become a regular name in the magazine and on the website. Reporting from races, long interviews with riders from the peloton and riding features drive his love of writing about all things two wheels.


Probably a bit too obsessed with mountains, he was previously found playing and guiding in the Canadian Rockies, and now mostly lives in the Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees where he’s a ski instructor in the winter and cycling guide in the summer. He almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains.