"Donde hay fe, hay fuerza” is a Colombian proverb that translates to the following “where there is faith, there is strength.”
Just over three years ago, Egan Bernal posted a video on social media which showed him taking his first steps after spending 15 days in a hospital bed. It was the start of his recovery from a crash that almost killed him; a fractured vertebrae, a fractured femur, chest trauma and a punctured lung were just a few of the frighteningly long list of injuries that the Colombian rider sustained in a life-changing accident.
In the 2021 season before that fateful day, Bernal had taken the pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia, he was the star of the Ineos Grenadiers and the most exciting general classification rider of his generation. But in a split second, in a momentary lapse of concentration, everything had changed. Many doubted if he would ever start a bike race again, let alone compete for victory in one. But Bernal had fe y fuerza, and that was all that mattered.
The road back to cycling’s top table has been long and testing for the Colombian, but those who have watched him closely would have seen the signs that his comeback, despite the odds, was possible. There have been the top-10 finishes in Grand Tour stages, which slowly turned into podium finishes at smaller week-long races, then there was the victory at the Colombian National Championships at the start of this season – 1347 days after Bernal’s last win. “I promised that if I won a race again, I would dedicate it to God for giving me a second chance at life,” he wrote afterwards.
And that brings us to the present day, where Egan Bernal is racing proudly in his white, yellow, blue and red jersey to the top of mountains in the 2025 edition of the Giro d’Italia. On stage seven, the first summit finish of this year’s race, the Colombian rider was back where he has always known he belonged: with the very best. We might have expected the jersey of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Primož Roglič to be lighting up the race with a trademark attack when the top of the climb to Tagliacozzo came into view. Instead, it was the figure of Bernal who shot out from the bunch of general classification favourites – a sight so many have been hoping to see for so long.
Bernal crossing the line on stage seven of the Giro (Image: Getty)
The 28-year-old rider didn’t end up taking the stage victory, but his third-place finish behind UAE Team Emirates’ duo of Juan Ayuso and Issac del Toro is a promising and impressive result – even if we don’t take into account where Bernal has had to fight back from to get here. Longer mountains later on in the race will give us a truer picture of where the Colombian rider sits in comparison to his general classification rivals, but this is an encouraging early sign that Bernal is ready to fight for Grand Tour victories once again. The phase of his awe-inspiring comeback where it was simply about getting into the peloton again is over. Now, the Ineos Grenadiers have a serious general classification contender back on their roster.
The importance of Bernal’s performance today for his team should also not be underestimated. It has been well-documented that the Ineos Grenadiers have been struggling for some time with a lack of direction. While the team is riding aggressively and doing as much as they can to animate races, they have been floating through the last few seasons without a true leader to shape their approach to stage races. Bernal is starting to fill that role again once more for the British team who will undoubtedly find motivation and morale from his performance in the Giro so far. Credit should also be given to Ineos for the faith they have kept in Bernal throughout his recovery. While others might have questioned whether he could come back to his former level after such serious injuries, his team has stood by Bernal through the years, patiently watching him work hard for results that came slowly but surely.
Above all, regardless of what happens next in the Giro d'Italia, Bernal’s resilience in the face of adversity to get back to his current level is a lesson in never giving up, even when it may seem impossible. The Colombian rider embodies fe y fuerza, faith and strength, something that will carry him through this Grand Tour – potentially all the way to the podium in Rome.
