The Colombian climber of the Ineos team, Egan Bernal, "
nearly lost his life
" in the serious accident he suffered on Monday and which could have left him "
paraplegic
", he said on Friday on social networks .
“
After having had a 95% chance of remaining paraplegic and almost losing my life doing what I love the most
,” the cyclist wrote in the caption of a photo of himself lying on his hospital bed, the neck in a neck brace, waving "
OK
" with his left hand. "
Today I want to thank God, the clinic of La Sabana, all its specialists who have achieved the impossible, and my family
", continues the Colombian runner.
In training on Monday, Bernal hit the back of a bus that had suddenly stopped.
He was transferred to the hospital to be operated on for several fractures.
Several of his vertebrae were affected, as well as the right femur and kneecap.
“
I remain in the intensive care unit awaiting further surgeries, but I trust in God that everything will go well
,” he added on Friday.
Two new operations
The La Sabana University Clinic, where Bernal is hospitalized, said the cyclist had to undergo two new operations on Friday, to treat fractures in his right hand and jaw.
“
These are secondary procedures, which pose no risk to his life
,” the doctors said in a statement.
At 25, a birthday he celebrated on January 13, Bernal is only in the first part of a career that has begun with flying colors.
For his second season at the highest level, he won the Tour de France in 2019, a feat that no rider from his country had accomplished before him.
A gifted climber, endowed with great racing intelligence and skilled in the art of placement, Bernal then won another big tour, the Giro 2021, without showing any weakness.
His serious accident compromises his season, when he intended to return to the Tour de France next summer to win again.
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