“It’s not about carrying on for the sake of it”: Egan Bernal clarifies his future after retirement rumours

Egan Bernal has addressed rumors about his possible retirement from professional cycling. After several days of speculation about his future, the 29-year-old Colombian has published a statement confirming that he has a contract with INEOS until the end of 2029 and that, for now, his intention is to return to competition next season. However, his words also hint at a moment of personal and sporting reflection after a career marked by successes, an accident that nearly cost him his life, and the enormous difficulties in returning to compete at the level of the best.

Egan Bernal responds to retirement rumors with a statement about his future

Reports about a possible retirement of Egan Bernal began to circulate after specialized journalist Daniel Benson published that several sources indicated the Colombian was considering ending his career at the end of 2026.

The news was particularly surprising because Bernal is only 29 years old and it had recently been revealed that he would continue with INEOS until 2029. However, his decision to end the season after the Tour de France, without competing in any other events since July, had fueled doubts about his future.

Now it has been the rider himself who has wanted to clarify the situation through an extensive statement published on his social media.

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"First of all, I have a contract with the team until the end of 2029 and, for now, my intention is to start next season", explains Bernal in the opening lines of the text.

The Colombian acknowledges that, after so many years dedicated to cycling, he needed to stop and regain some peace away from competition.

"This year I decided to end my season after the Tour de France. I felt that I needed some time for myself, to rest, disconnect a bit, and regain that tranquility that sometimes, with the pace of competition, gets lost".

Bernal also confirms that he has discussed this situation with his team and with the people closest to him, and that there is an understanding about the need to take this break.

Although his intention is to continue, he also does not want to commit to competing at any cost.

"It's not just about continuing for the sake of it, but about having the motivation, the physical and mental strength, and the desire to continue being competitive and making a difference", he states.

A statement that, while not announcing a retirement, makes it clear that Bernal is reconsidering how he wants to approach the next years of his career.

From winning the Tour at 22 to recovering from an accident that nearly ended his life

To understand the moment Egan Bernal is going through, one must remember the extraordinary trajectory he has had since his arrival in professional cycling.

In 2019, at just 22 years old, he became the first Colombian to win the Tour de France. He did so when it still seemed he had a whole career ahead of him and was destined to become one of the great dominators of stage races.

Two years later, he confirmed his quality by winning the Giro d'Italia in 2021, adding his second Grand Tour before turning 25. However, his career changed radically on January 24, 2022.

While training on his time trial bike in Colombia, Bernal collided with a parked bus and suffered very serious injuries, with numerous fractures in different parts of his body and a punctured lung. The accident nearly cost him his life.

His recovery became one of the most impressive episodes in recent cycling. Just two months after the accident, Bernal had already managed to return to road training despite having suffered around twenty fractures.

Since then, he began a long process to regain his physical condition and return to the elite. And although he managed to compete at the highest level again, the cycling he found upon his return was no longer exactly what he had left.

Bernal has regained his best numbers, but cycling has changed

One of the great paradoxes of Egan Bernal's current situation is that his problem does not seem to be solely about regaining the physical condition he had before his accident.

The Colombian has explained on several occasions that his performance data has returned to being among the best of his career. However, that is no longer enough to compete for victories against the great dominators of the peloton. The most evident example came during the Giro d'Italia in 2026.

In the grueling ascent to Blockhaus, Bernal completed what he himself considered one of the best efforts of his entire career. For 40 minutes, he maintained a power close to six watts per kilo, extraordinary figures that a few years ago would have allowed him to compete with the best climbers in the world. But the result was very different.

Despite signing, according to his own words, his best 40 minutes on the bike, Bernal lost almost three minutes to Jonas Vingegaard in that ascent.

"I don't want to talk too much about numbers because in the end I lost three minutes, but at the same time I think I did my best 40 minutes ever", he acknowledged then.

And he added a reflection that perfectly summarized his situation: "I climbed making six watts per kilo and for me, those are good numbers for 40 minutes. For me, they are good numbers and still, I keep losing a lot of time".

His statements reflected the enormous evolution that performance in professional cycling has undergone in recent years.

"At 29 years old, I almost feel old"

Bernal himself had already left some hints about how he was experiencing this transformation of the peloton.

Before this year's Giro d'Italia, the Colombian acknowledged that the emergence of a new generation of extraordinarily young riders made him feel almost old at 29.

Indeed, the cycling of the Grand Tours has changed profoundly, and riders like Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard have raised the physical demands necessary to compete for victories.

In this context, Bernal has continued to demonstrate that he can compete at a very high level, although without regaining the prominence he had when he won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.

A pause to regain motivation, not a farewell

In his statement, Bernal reflects on a career that, despite still being 29 years old, has already included experiences that few athletes get to live.

"I have made sacrifices I never imagined, I have won races that once seemed impossible dreams, I have lived incredible moments and also very difficult ones, but today I can look back with peace, proud of everything I have done and achieved, without regretting anything".

The Colombian also explains that his perspective on the sport has changed over the years and that he now places greater importance on enjoying the process and finding reasons to continue competing.

"Over time, I have also learned that this sport is not just about results, victories, or sacrifices. It is also about enjoying the journey and finding the motivation to keep doing what one loves".

For now, Bernal does not announce his retirement and maintains the intention of returning to the peloton in 2027, although he also does not offer absolute guarantees about what will happen in the coming years.

"I don't know exactly what the next years will hold for me, and I think I don't have to know everything at this moment", he acknowledges.