Bernal ruled out of World Championships as Colombia make team change
Bernal, who has not raced since the Tour de France in July, will be replaced by Wilmar Paredes.
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Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) will miss the upcoming World Championships in Montréal, Canada, due to muscle strain.
The Colombian Cycling Federation confirmed on Thursday that the former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner will miss out on the championships in Canada due to muscle strain, which is an issue preventing him from competing in peak condition.
As a result, Bernal, who is the Colombian champion, has been replaced in the line-up by Wilmar Paredes (Medellín-EPM), who won four stages of the Vuelta a Colombia this season, as well as claiming victory at the Vuelta a São Paulo in Brazil, Clásica de Azuero in Panama and the Tour de Beauce in Canada.
It will mark the 30-year-old's debut in the elite men's road race at the Worlds.
Bernal made his debut in the elite men’s road race twelve months ago in Kigali, Rwanda, though he didn’t complete the race. The Netcompany-Ineos rider hasn’t raced since finishing 20th at the Tour in July, which followed a tenth-place finish at the Giro in May.
In his absence, the Colombian team for the elite men’s road race features Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Sergio Higuita (EF Education-EasyPost), Brandon Rivera Smith (Netcompany-Ineos), Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who will line up for his eighth road race before retiring at the end of the season.
The elite men’s road race will take place over 273.2km from Brossard to Montréal in Canada on 27 September.
Two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has been ruled out due to the injuries he sustained after crashing out on stage 8 of the Vuelta a España while in the race lead.
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