Egan Bernal takes Strava KoMs on daunting Andorran mountains 10 days after breaking collarbone
The Colombian star was forced to pull out of the Giro d’Italia but is already back on the bike
Egan Bernal has topped the Strava leaderboard on some tough Andorran mountains just days after breaking his collarbone.
The Team Ineos rider was forced to abandon his Giro d’Italia leadership after he crashed during a training ride on the eve of the Italian Grand Tour.
Bernal has made a rapid recovery and is back out on the bike in the Andorran mountains, where he took three King of the Mountains and a slew of top 10s.
The 22-year-old Colombian rode just 68.64km in his first time back out on the bike after the crash, spending two hours and 45 minutes in the saddle.
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He racked up 1,896m of climbing in the short ride, which took him up the Coll de la Gallina, which featured in stage 20 of the 2018 Vuelta a España.
The climb is 8.15km-long, with an average gradient of eight percent.
Egan Bernal’s Strava stats on his first ride back from injury
Bernal crested the second category climb in 29-44, riding at 16.5km/h for the duration and holding 324 watts.
The ride was strong enough to put Bernal at the top of the Strava leaderboard, almost a minute faster than his Team Ineos team-mate David de la Cruz who climbed it in 30-37.
Bernal also took the KoM on the first category Col de la Garina CS-111 segment – a first category climb which averages nine per cent that was included in stage 19 of last year’s Vuelta.
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With a time of 28-23, Bernal bested the previous KoM holder Eduardo Sepulveda (Movistar) who completed the climb in 29-12.
Bernal’s final KoM of the day was a longer version of the same climb, the Cs 111 Climb, which is 9.62km at eight per cent.
The HC climb KoM was previously held by Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), but his 34-40 time was beaten by Bernal’s 33.47.
Bernal climbed at 17.1km/h and held 322w for the duration of the ascent.