Egan Bernal, Ineos Grenadiers rider, was one of the 12 cyclists affected by the massive fall that occurred this Wednesday, May 10, when there was just over a kilometer to go before the conclusion of the first stage of the Tour of Hungary; just at the moment when they were preparing for the final packaging.

As a result of the fall, the Colombian winner of the Tour de France in 2019 crossed the finish line more than six minutes behind the winner of the stage, the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen, despite the fact that the lacerations on his arm and side were evident. of his body, as well as some torn parts on his shirt, at the height of the right shoulder.

Several hours after the incident, Ineos spoke on their social networks about the state of health of Egan Bernal and the Australian Lucas Plapp, another of the members of the club who was affected during the accident.

Regarding Egan, some scratches and bruises from the fall were confirmed, but they assured that the Colombian will continue to play the Magyar round as normal. As a counterpart, in the case of Plapp, a mild contusion resulting from the fall was determined, for which he officially abandoned the test.

Egan Bernal’s crash in the Tour of Hungary is the third in which the Colombian has been involved in the 2023 season. The first of these occurred during the Tour of San Juan in Argentina in January. As in Hungary, that one occurred during the first stage. Then discomfort in his leg forced him to withdraw from the test in the penultimate stage and stop his preparation process to compete in the Tour de France for more than three weeks.

Bernal’s second fall in 2023 took place in March during the sixth stage of the Tour of Catalonia. between the towns of Martorell and Molins de Rei, where he fell with 90 kilometers to go. The Colombian was unable to finish the race and once again had to take several days off.

This set off the alarms because since his return to the roads after the accident in 2022 that almost cost him his life, he had not managed to finish a single race on the WorldTour calendar.

Fortunately, Egan responded with the full course in the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie. Although he is still far from his best level, the fact that this time he can continue in the Tour of Hungary seems a good indication of the Colombian’s progressive recovery.

On this occasion, he was competing in the final sprint of the inaugural stage of the Magyar test, but with just over a kilometer to go and the launch of the sprinters who would go for the victory in the fraction was about to take place, Egan found himself involved in a fall where about a dozen runners were involved in a space that compromised two lanes of the road.

Because he was within the limit of the final three kilometers, neither the Colombian nor the others involved in the accident lost time in the general classification.