.jpg) Bernal in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Egan Arley Bernal Gómez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1997-01-13)13 January 1997 (age 28) Bogotá, Colombia[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Ineos Grenadiers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Climbing specialist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–present | Team Sky[4][5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
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Medal record
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Egan Arley Bernal Gómez (born 13 January 1997) is a Colombian professional cyclist who rides forUCI WorldTeamIneos Grenadiers.[6] He won the 2019Tour de France, becoming the first Latin American rider to do so, and the youngest winner since 1909. Two years later, Bernal took his second Grand Tour win at the2021 Giro d'Italia. Bernal was involved in a serious crash in 2022, and although he returned to racing in 2023, he has not raced at the same level as before.
Egan Bernal was born inBogotá,Colombia, and raised in the nearby town ofZipaquirá.
He is the eldest child of Germán, who worked at theSalt Cathedral, and Flor, who was employed at a flower factory. His father was a passionate amateur cyclist, and Bernal began riding a second-hand bicycle at the age of five.
At the age of nine, against his father's wishes, he entered and easily won a local race in Zipaquirá. The prize included a training scholarship.[7] Bernal initially focused on mountain biking, excelling in the discipline by winning races inBrazil,Costa Rica, and the United States. He also earned a silver medal in 2014 and a bronze in 2015 at theUCI Mountain Bike World Championships in the junior cross-country category.[8]
Alongside mountain biking, Bernal had begun to gain success in junior road racing both in Colombia and Italy, winning the Clasica Juventudes Cajica[9] and the Sognando Il Giro delle Fiandre[10] in 2015.
Bernal was signed byGianni Savio to theAndroni Giocattoli–Sidermec team on a four-year contract, partly on the evidence of aVO2 max reading of 88.8ml/kg/min provided by his agent, Paolo Alberati.[11] He began racing among seniors right away, bypassing the usual U23 career route.[11] In 2016, he obtained top 20 results in theLa Méditerranéenne, theGP Industria & Artigianato,Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali andGiro del Trentino, before winning the (then) lower levelTour of Bihor and coming fourth in both theTour de Slovenie and theTour de l'Avenir.[12]
2017 saw top ten finishes for Bernal in theVuelta a San Juan and theTour de Langkawi.[13] He later finished third overall in theSettimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, second in theGiro dell'Appennino, and ninth in theTour of the Alps.[13] His first professional wins came in theSibiu Cycling Tour, with two stage victories as well as the overall.[14] He also won two stages and the overall title at theTour de l'Avenir.[13] Although he was still under contract toAndroni Giocattoli–Sidermec and a contract buyout payment reported to be €350,000 was necessary,[15] Bernal signed a five-year deal withTeam Sky from the 2018 season.[16] He completed his time inSavio's team with fifth in theGiro della Toscana and top twenty places inGiro dell'Emilia,Milano–Torino and his firstmonument,Il Lombardia.[13]
Bernal made his debut forTeam Sky in theTour Down Under as team co-leader,[17] in which he won the young rider classification and finished sixth in the overall standings. In February 2018, Bernal won theColombian National Time Trial Championships. He went on to win the first edition of theTour Colombia (then called Colombia Oro y Paz), through an attack on the final 20-kilometre (12-mile) climb on the last day.[18]
Bernal's next race was theVolta a Catalunya, in which he was second on general classification when he fell on a wet descent in the final stage, fracturing hisclavicle andscapula.[19][20]
The following month, Bernal competed in theTour de Romandie, winning stage three of the race, anindividual time trial[21] and finishing second overall behindPrimož Roglič. In May, Bernal achieved his firstUCI World Tour win in theTour of California, finishing over a minute ahead ofTejay van Garderen, and winning two stages.[22][23]
In July, he rode theTour de France as adomestique for team leadersChris Froome andGeraint Thomas. He was the youngest participant in the race, and was still able to drop many contenders in the mountains.[24]
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Bernal started his 2019 season in Colombia. He rode in the national championships and in his home stage race, theTour Colombia. Bernal, however, was unable to defend his title in the race, finishing fourth overall. Bernal later went to Europe to compete inParis–Nice. The Colombian impressed in the crosswinds, the individual time trial, and in the mountains, claiming the overall victory ahead ofNairo Quintana.
Bernal next finished third in theVolta a Catalunya, and was scheduled to lead Team Ineos at theGiro d'Italia until he broke a collarbone in a training injury in Andorra.[25] He returned to racing for theTour de Suisse, in which he won the overall classification and the queen stage.
Bernal was elevated to be co-leader of the team with defending champion Thomas for theTour de France, because of the absence through injury of Froome. After the stage 2 team time trial he had a top ten position in the general classification, which he retained, despite an unimpressive individual time trial performance, into the three decisive alpine stages. An attack on the last climb of stage 18 saw him move into second place overall, ahead of Thomas, and he took the yellow jersey as race leader on stage 19 after an attack on theCol de l'Iseran. The stage was shortened because of landslides and a severe hail storm with 38 km remaining. Although the stage positions were considered null, times were taken at the top of the Iseran, putting Bernal in the lead with margins of forty five seconds over previous leaderJulian Alaphilippe and one minute and eleven seconds over Thomas. He defended his lead on stage 20, another mountain stage, and confirmed his victory with the largely ceremonial ride onto theChamps-Élysées in Paris.
He thus became the first Colombian or South American rider, and second from the Americas,[N 1] to win the Tour de France, and also won the best young rider competition. At the time he was the youngest General Classification winner since1909[26] and the third youngest ever at 22 years, 196 days.[27]"It's incredible, I don’t know what to say", Bernal said. "I’ve won the Tour but I don’t manage to believe it. I need a couple of days to assimilate all this. It's for my family and I just want to hug them. It's a feeling of happiness that I don’t know how to describe it."The young champion cyclist went on to say the victory was also for his home country of Colombia."This is not only my triumph", Bernal said. "It's the triumph of a whole country."[28]
In early 2020, Bernal finished fourth at theTour Colombia. After the coronavirus break, he won theRoute d'Occitanie, and finished second at theTour de l'Ain. At the Colombian Road Race Championships, he claimed podiums in both the road race and time trial.
At theTour de France, 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.
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After some early season stage races, including theTour de la Provence where he took third place,[29] he finished third inStrade Bianche, and in theTirreno–Adriatico he managed one top five stage finish, and finished in fourth place, 4'13" behind winnerTadej Pogačar.
Bernal entered the2021 Giro d'Italia as one of the favourites for the race.[29] On the sixth stage to San Giacomo, Bernal put time into his rivals by finishing second behind stage winnerGino Mäder and moving into third place in the overall standings, 16 seconds behind new leaderAttila Valter.[30] On the race's ninth stage, Bernal took the first Grand Tour stage win of his career as well as thepink jersey with an attack on the gravel section at the end of the final climb toCampo Felice, emerging with a 15 second lead in the general classification overRemco Evenepoel.[31] Bernal extended his lead on the second stage of the race with gravel sectors, stage 11 toMontalcino, where several of his general classification rivals lost time, including Evenepoel, giving Bernal a 45 second lead overAleksander Vlasov.[32] He took more time out of his rivals on stage 14, latching onto an attack bySimon Yates on the final climb upMonte 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.[33] Bernal took his second stage win of the race on the sixteenth stage toCortina d'Ampezzo, which was shortened due to poor weather, crossing the finish line 27 seconds in front ofRomain Bardet andDamiano 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.[34]
On the race's final week Bernal maintained his lead over Caruso but lost time to Yates, with the latter andJoão Almeida distancing Bernal on stage 17's finishing climb to Sega di Ala, cutting the gap between Bernal and Yates by almost a minute,[35] and Yates again attacking on stage 19's final ascent upAlpe di Mera with about six and a half kilometres to go, going on to win the stage with Bernal almost half a minute behind.[36] On the final mountain stage, Caruso and his teammatePello Bilbao distanced Bernal on the descent of theSan Bernardino Pass 50 km from the finish in pursuit of a group of riders fromTeam DSM including Bardet before working with riders from an earlier breakaway to extend their lead over Bernal to 50 seconds up the penultimate climb of theSplügen Pass. Bernal and his teammates were able to reduce the gap to less than half a minute by the time Caruso crossed the finish line on the Alpe Motta to win the stage, reducing Bernal's general classification lead to just under two minutes.[37] 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.[38] He became the fourth rider to win both the Tour and the Giro before reaching the age of 25, afterGino Bartali,Felice Gimondi andEddy Merckx, and also the fourth rider to win both the overall andyouth classifications in the same Giro, alongsideEvgeni Berzin, countrymanNairo Quintana and teammateTao Geoghegan Hart.[39]
Bernal entered the2021 Vuelta a España with a very strong team that also includedRichard Carapaz andAdam Yates. By his own standards he rode poorly early in the race and was not happy with his own performance. Despite this he took over the young rider classification after stage 3 and was in a top 10 position among the general classification riders for most of the race. On stage 17 which included the climb to theLagos de Covadonga he launched an attack with 61 kilometers to go.[40]Primož Roglič was the only rider who could go with him and the two continuously built a gap over the other favorites. By the end of the stage he had fallen back and crossed the line with the surviving general classification riders still maintaining his lead overGino Mäder in the young rider competition and rising to 6th place overall. On the penultimate climb of the race he got caught out in a split among the GC riders and lost the young rider jersey to Mäder, but retained his 6th place after the final ITT on stage 21.
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Bernal signed a five-year contract extension with Ineos in January 2022, announcing his goal for the year was to win the 2022 Tour de France.[41]Days later, on a training ride inGachancipá with Ineos Grenadiers teammates on 24 January, Bernal hit the back of a stoppedpassenger bus at a speed of about 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph). Bernal was on his time-trial bike and had not been attentive to the stopped bus according to the transit police.[42][43] Ineos team later released a statement stating Bernal had sustained "[...]a fractured vertebrae [sic], a fractured rightfemur, a fractured rightpatella,chest trauma, apunctured lung and severalrib fractures".[44] Bernal was taken to ClinicaUniversidad de La Sabana in Bogotá for treatment.[43] In total, doctors counted 20 separate fractures and initially warned there was a 95% chance Bernal would die or be paralyzed.[45] He underwent two surgeries, both of which were successful in the immediate sense; the long term impacts were less certain. By 25 January he was stabilized, although still in intensive care as the doctors moved to treating less serious injuries.[46]
He began to recover quickly, and by early March was sharing his progress with friends, family and fans on social media. His coach, Xabier Artexte, did not rule out a return to cycling by the end of the 2022 season.[47]
There was a rumor that Bernal would possibly make his return at the2022 Vuelta a España, however Vuelta Director Javier Guillén stated this was not true.[48] Instead Bernal was intending to ride in the2022 Vuelta a Burgos.[49] The plan was changed again with his new return being theDanmark Rundt.[50]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2025) |
Bernal finished 8th at the2023 Tour de Romandie. He also rode in the2023 Tour de France and the2023 Vuelta a España. In 2024, he finished fourth at theVolta a Catalunya.In 2025, he finished seventh at theGiro d'Italia, his first top-ten finish in a Grand Tour since 2022. He rode the2025 Vuelta a España, where he won the sixteenth stage. he finished eight in that season's Giro di Lombardia, his first monument top-ten since he finished third at the same race in 2019.
OverallTour of Bihor
Young rider classification Young rider classification,Giro del Trentino
Young rider classification,Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali Young rider classification OverallSibiu Cycling Tour Points classification Young rider classification OverallTour de Savoie Mont Blanc
Points classification Young rider classification OverallTour de l'Avenir Young rider classification Young rider classification Young rider classification Young rider classification
Time trial, National Championships OverallTour of California Young rider classification
OverallColombia Oro y Paz
Mountains classification Young rider classification Young rider classification Young rider classification OverallTour de France OverallTour de Suisse Young rider classification OverallParis–Nice Young rider classification OverallRoute d'Occitanie Points classification Young rider classification after Stages 7–12 OverallGiro d'ItaliaYoung rider classification after Stages 3–19
Combativity award Stage 17Road raceTime trial| Grand Tour general classification | |||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 7 |
| Tour de France | — | 15 | 1 | DNF | — | — | 36 | 29 | — |
 Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | 55 | — | 17 |
| Major stage race general classification | |||||||||
| Major stage race | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
 Paris–Nice | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 7 | — |
 Tirreno–Adriatico | 16 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — |
 Volta a Catalunya | — | DNF | 3 | NH | — | — | DNF | 3 | 7 |
| Tour of the Basque Country | — | — | — | — | — | 92 | — | — | |
| Tour de Romandie | — | 2 | — | — | — | 8 | 10 | — | |
 Critérium du Dauphiné | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | 12 | — | — |
| Tour de Suisse | — | — | 1 | NH | — | — | — | 4 | — |
| Monument | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | NH | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 21 | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | 13 | 12 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | 8 |
| Classic | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Strade Bianche | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| Trofeo Laigueglia | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| Milano–Torino | — | 16 | 10 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clásica de San Sebastián | — | — | DNF | DNF | NH | 16 | — | — | — | — |
| Giro dell'Emilia | DNF | 20 | 23 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | 4 |
| Gran Piemonte | — | — | DNF | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 9 |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |
| IP | In Progress |
Cross-country,UCI World Junior Championships.svg)
Cross-country, Pan American Junior Championships
Cross-country, Pan American Junior Championships
Cross-country,UCI World Junior Championships"I feel this is not only my triumph, but the triumph of a whole country", Bernal said Saturday (via NBC). " . . . It's a great honor to think that I'm the one achieving this. My dad couldn't talk at first, but when he managed, he congratulated me. He was about to cry. For us, it's a dream. We used to watch the Tour on TV and we thought it was something unreachable. . . .
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