Egan Bernal, back at top level!? INEOS climber shows off impressive Strava KOM above 3,000 meters

It has taken two years, but Egan Bernal is returning to his top level. The still-only 28-year-old Colombian from INEOS Grenadiers showed Thursday with an impressive KOM on Strava that people better take him seriously again in 2025.

Bernal's story is well known. He joined Team Sky in 2018 after his breakthrough with Androni, and things progressed rapidly. In his first year in the WorldTour, he played a brilliant role in the Tour de France, won by Geraint Thomas, the race he would win a year later. He also won Paris-Nice and the Tour of Switzerland in 2019 and was the standout rider of the moment.

In 2020, Bernal aimed for the Tour again, but a chronic back injury played up, and he had to abandon the race. After a grueling rehabilitation to strengthen the back, the climber won the Giro d'Italia in 2021 and finished sixth in his first Vuelta a España later that year. He has not won since that Giro, having crashed his time trial bike into the back of a stationary bus in Colombia in January 2022.

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Egan Bernal in the INEOS jersey for 2025

Bernal needed two years to return

Bernal broke numerous bones in the crash and needed several months of rehabilitation. He returned to racing on the 2022 Tour of Denmark, but understandably, he was far from the old Bernal. Although he rode the Tour and the Vuelta in 2023, he didn't succeed. There was some celebration when he finished eighth in the Tour of Hungary.

In 2024, there was another step up, and Bernal slowly competed again for podium places in one-day and one-week stage races. He finished third in O Gran Camiño and the Tour of Catalonia and fourth in Switzerland. However, he did not play a significant role in the Tour. To be his old self again in 2025, he opted to end the season and have back surgery after the Tour.

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Bernal impresses with Strava KOM in Colombia

The result of two years of rehabilitation came Thursday in Colombia on the so-called Patios. According to Bernal, the climb on Strava, a 5.91-kilometer segment at a 6.4 percent average, is one of Colombia's most commonly cycled climbs near Bogota's capital. "Today, after several attempts, I finally improved the record," it sounds proud on Instagram.

The old record top time on the climb had stood since 2021 in the name of Javier Jamaica, who reached the top in 14 minutes and 44 seconds. Bernal took off five seconds on Thursday for 14.39 minutes. What makes the climb so atrocious is the starting point at an altitude of 2,637 meters. The finish is at 3,014 meters. Bernal climbed at 360 watts on average, with his weight of 60 kilograms given by Procyclingstats an average of 6 watts per kilogram, well above 2,000 meters...

It is unclear when we will first see Bernal at work in 2025. He wants to win at least the Vuelta a España, the only grand tour still missing from his palmares. 2025 will be challenging, as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are heading to the Vuelta this year.  

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