The start of the season for some athletes has had one or two ups and downs. And this is the case of the Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal, who had to withdraw from the first two races that he took part in this year due to physical problems.
It should be remembered that in January he did not complete the Vuelta a San Juan, a cycling race that took place in Argentina and that left him with an injury to his left knee. This situation meant that he had to go through a recovery process that lasted several weeks and made him miss other tests such as the Tour of Andalusia and Paris-Nice, which he was able to win in 2019.
Later, when he returned to the roads after the aforementioned health mishap, he suffered a fall in the penultimate stage of the Tour of Catalonia, which also caused his departure from version 102 of this test.
In fact, he was left with a couple of lacerations on his body that will keep him away from the bike for some time and this situation has caused some to begin to doubt his presence in the 2023 Tour de France, which will start on next July 1.
Despite this, in the awnings of his squad, the Ineos Grenadiers, are more optimistic and recently their director Christian Knees spoke on the subject. “His (Egan Bernal’s) presence in the Tour de France would be great. He could help the rest of his teammates and see what he could do there. If he stays healthy, then that would be the signal for him to go to the Tour,” he said. Entry Knees in dialogue with the specialized media Cycling News.
But that was not all and he added: “I really think that Egan, with good form, could contribute to our team in any role. In the end, I think he could be beneficial for both parties.”
It should be noted that at the time Bernal confessed that one of his main goals for the season is to compete in the Tour de France. Will he make it?
Has Egan Bernal won the Tour de France?
Yes, this cyclist was established in the 2019 edition of this competition and became the first national cyclist to win the ‘Grande Boucle’, which for experts is the most important cycling race in the world.
Of course, Bernal was also successful in another Grand Tour such as the Giro d’Italia, which he won in 2021. However, he still has to win the Tour of Spain, in which he has only participated once. This was in 2021, when he finished in sixth place in the general classification.
By Jacobo Olivares, at www. sports.caracoltv.com