Tom Pidcock speaks out about Egan Bernal’s crash
The Brit blames TT training and extreme riding positions
Ineos Grenadier rider Tom Pidcock is speaking out about Colombian teammate Egan Bernal and his horrific crash. Bernal collided with a bus on Monday, and was rushed to hospital for a series of surgeries.
The Clinica Universidad de La Sabana in Bogotá released a statement from the hospital’s general director Juan Guillermo Ortiz Martínez that doctors had removed the tube in Egan’s throat that helped Egan breath during surgery on his spine and broken right femur. In general Bernal has responded excellently to the treatment of his spine, femur, right patella, ribs and punctured lungs.
Pidcock had a crash in June of 2021 when he broke his collarbone in June in the Pyrenees, close to his home in Andorra. At the time, he was training using his time trial bike. He blames riding on his aero bars on open roads for his crash.
“Positions are getting more and more extreme and we spend more time trying to hold these positions. You don’t necessarily see where you’re going,” Pidcock said in an interview with the BBC. “It’s evident now where it’s getting quite dangerous,” he said. “I don’t think we need to stop progressing, but think about how we can train in a safer way and try to mitigate these crashes.”
The 22-year-old rider thinks that Bernal’s crash could be a result of the riding position at the time. “I crashed on a time trial bike, as did my teammate Ben Turner,” he said. “Egan’s now crashed, it’s getting quite extreme, the position. I think that’s the biggest cause of the crashes recently.”
Bernal remains in hospital, with doctors saying that he can move all his limbs, which is promising, given his spinal injuries.
