A year and a half after his fatal fall, Colombian Egan Bernal is back in the Tour de France. The 2019 winner was called up to the eight-man squad by his team Ineos-Grenadiers on Monday.

A year and a half after a life-threatening fall, the former winner is back in the Tour de France

In a video distributed by the racing team, Formula 1 driver George Russell announced the 26-year-old’s participation. Bernal’s role in the tour that starts in Bilbao on Saturday was not clearly defined by his team, he should mainly help with his experience.

In January 2022, Bernal crashed into a stationary bus while training in his home country. He had broken almost 20 bones, including eleven ribs, two vertebrae, a femur and a kneecap. In addition, both lungs were perforated. Bernal himself had put his chances of not being paraplegic at only five percent.

He made his comeback last year at the Tour of Denmark, shortly afterwards he rode the Germany tour. At the Critérium du Dauphiné, the classic preparation race for the Tour, Bernal finished an impressive twelfth place at the beginning of June.