Bernal underwent emergency surgery on a fractured femur, knee and vertebrae following the incident, with doctors at the Clínica Universidad de La Sabana in Bogota confirming his recovery has, “continued with a favourable evolution.”
“The treatment plan has focused on pain management and taking new diagnostic control images, which confirm the excellent result of spinal surgery," the doctors added.
"On the other hand, his lungs have adequately re-expanded.
“Additionally, we have started nutritional support together with the intervention of our rehabilitation service. We will continue to provide Egan with the best specialists and look forward to his speedy recovery. We will continue to accompany the patient and his family, in care and attention.”
Bernal's mother and younger brother have both been able to visit him, with his mother posting on her Instagram that, "My happiness can be compared to what I felt 25 years ago because I felt that my son was born again."
In addition, the Colombian was also able to call his agent, Giuseppe Acquadro from the hospital and he revealed the good spirits of his client despite his condition.
“He told me was in a lot of pain," Acquadro told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I said I’d perhaps come to see him and he responded: ‘Perhaps I’ll come over to Europe!’ He also asked me about Marco Pantani’s accident and I reminded him that a few years after his accident, Pantani won the Giro and the Tour.”
Bernal's INEOS Grenadiers teammate Tom Pidcock has questioned the safety of the manner in which professional cyclists train in the wake of the incident, as Bernal was riding a time trial bike which he says puts riders in serious danger given their high aerodynamic nature and extreme positions required to ride them.
Pidcock was also caught up in a crash on a time trial bike, suffering a broken collarbone when he was hit by a car in the Pyrenees last June.
"I crashed on a time trial bike, Ben (Turner) crashed on one in the L'Avenir and Egan's now crashed," It's getting quite extreme, the position. I think that's biggest causes of the crashes recently," Pidcock told CyclingNews as he prepared for this weekend's UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.
"I think a lot of accidents have happened on time trial bikes and I think that's something that we need to – you know, the positions are getting more and more extreme, and we spend more and more time trying to hold these positions where you don't necessarily see where you're going.
"And I think it's evident now that it's getting quite dangerous. I don't think we need to stop progression but we need to think about how it can be, how we can train in a safer way and also try and mitigate these crashes."
"It's terrible news. I mean it kind of touched a nerve if you like with me because after my crash on a time trial bike it just shows I know that it can go wrong so quickly.
"And yeah, it's quite distressing to see really. I don't really know much more than anyone else. And, yeah, he's not in a good way, that's for sure. But at least he's stable, I guess."
