34 Facts About Egan Bernal

Egan Arley Bernal Gomez was born on 13 January 1997 and is a Colombian cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.

At the 2021 Giro d'Italia, Bernal took his second Grand Tour win.

Egan Bernal was born in Bogota, Colombia, and raised in Zipaquira.

Egan Bernal is the oldest child of German, an employee at the Salt Cathedral, and Flor, a flower factory worker.

Egan Bernal's father had been a keen amateur cyclist, and he started riding on a second hand bicycle at age five.

Egan Bernal studied one semester at Universidad de la Sabana in Chia, Colombia.

Egan Bernal initially focused on and excelled at mountain biking, winning races in Brazil, Costa Rica, and the United States, and getting both silver and bronze in the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships junior cross country events.

Alongside mountain biking, Egan Bernal had begun to gain success in junior road racing both in Colombia and Italy, winning the Clasica Juventudes Cajica and the Sognando Il Giro delle Fiandre in 2015.

Egan Bernal began racing among seniors right away, bypassing the usual U23 career route.

Egan Bernal later finished third overall in the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, second in the Giro dell'Appennino, and ninth in the Tour of the Alps.

Egan Bernal won two stages and the overall title at the Tour de l'Avenir.

Egan Bernal made his debut for Team Sky in the Tour Down Under as team co-leader, in which he won the young rider classification and finished sixth in the overall standings.

In February 2018, Egan Bernal won the Colombian National Time Trial Championships.

Egan Bernal went on to win the first edition of the Tour Colombia, through an attack on the final 20-kilometre climb on the last day.

Egan Bernal was the youngest participant in the race, and was still able to drop many contenders in the mountains.

Egan Bernal rode in the national championships and in his home stage race, the Tour Colombia.

Egan Bernal was unable to defend his title in the race, finishing fourth overall.

Egan Bernal next finished third in the Volta a Catalunya, and was scheduled to lead Team Ineos at the Giro d'Italia until he broke a collarbone in a training injury in Andorra.

Egan Bernal returned to racing for the Tour de Suisse, in which he won the overall classification and the queen stage.

Egan Bernal was elevated to be co-leader of the team with defending champion Thomas for the Tour de France, because of the absence through injury of Froome.

Egan Bernal defended his lead on stage 20, another mountain stage, and confirmed his victory with the largely ceremonial ride onto the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Egan Bernal thus became the first Colombian or South American rider, and second from the Americas, to win the Tour de France, and won the best young rider competition.

In early 2020, Egan Bernal finished fourth at the Tour Colombia.

At the Tour de France, Egan Bernal was in the top ten of the general classification from stage 2 to stage 14, and led the young rider classification for five stages, but having been 59 seconds behind the leader after stage 14 he lost considerable time on the next two days, after which he withdrew from the race with back pain.

Egan Bernal entered the 2021 Giro d'Italia as one of the favourites for the race.

Egan Bernal extended his lead on the second stage of the race with gravel sectors, stage 11 to Montalcino, where several of his general classification rivals lost time, including Evenepoel, giving Egan Bernal a 45 second lead over Aleksander Vlasov.

Egan Bernal took more time out of his rivals on stage 14, latching onto an attack by Simon Yates on the final climb up Monte Zoncolan before overhauling him to finish the stage in fourth and take a lead of over one and a half minutes in the general classification over Yates, who moved into the runner-up position.

Egan Bernal took his second stage win of the race on the sixteenth stage to Cortina d'Ampezzo, which was shortened due to poor weather, crossing the finish line 27 seconds in front of Romain Bardet and Damiano Caruso and opening up a lead in the overall standings of almost two and a half minutes over the latter going into the second rest day.

Egan Bernal secured the pink jersey on the final time trial in Milan, conceding another 30 seconds to Caruso to win by a one and a half minute margin.

Egan Bernal became the fourth rider to win both the Tour and the Giro before reaching the age of 25, after Gino Bartali, Felice Gimondi and Eddy Merckx, and the fourth rider to win both the overall and youth classifications in the same Giro, alongside Evgeni Berzin, countryman Nairo Quintana and teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart.

Egan Bernal entered the 2021 Vuelta a Espana with a very strong team that included Richard Carapaz and Adam Yates.

Egan Bernal was on his time-trial bike and had not been attentive to the stopped bus according to the transit police.

Egan Bernal was taken to Clinica Universidad de La Sabana in Bogota for treatment.

Egan Bernal underwent two surgeries, both of which were successful in the immediate sense; the long term impacts are less certain.