Former Tour de France champion Egan Bernal on Thursday swept to his first victory since a 2022 horror crash which almost claimed his life.

The Colombian star ended his long wait by winning his country's national time-trial at Bucaramanga.

It may not have been the most prestigious of successes for the 28-year-old Ineos rider whose most recent overall race triumph was on the Giro d'Italia in 2021.

A Remarkable Comeback

Back then, Bernal was one of the world's great Grand Tour riders having also won the 2019 Tour de France.

However, he was almost killed in a serious road accident during training in Colombia when he collided head-on with a stationary bus.

The incident left him with 20 fractures and in serious danger of paralysis before he miraculously returned to the saddle barely a year later.