Cycling: Bernal back on the bike two months after horror crash

Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal seen at the Giro d'Italia in Italy on May 28, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS

BOGOTA (REUTERS) - Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal said he was happy to be back on his bike just two months after a near-fatal accident left him needing multiple surgeries.

Bernal, who won the 2019 Tour de France and last year's Giro d'Italia, had neurosurgery after slamming into a stationery bus in Colombia in January.

He fractured his vertebra, right femur, right patella, and suffered chest trauma and a punctured lung.

The 25-year-old had said the accident left him with a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic.

But he left hospital in February and has posted a picture of himself on Instagram back cycling on the road, describing it as the "happiest day" of his life.

"After two months and 20 broken bones, here I am, and I want more. See you on the road, guys," Bernal said.

Bernal was the youngest rider to win the Tour in more than a century and had recently extended his contract with the Ineos Grenadiers team to 2026.

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