Egan Bernal clears late passport issue ahead of Giro return - 'Honestly, it was my fault'
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) will line up at the 2026 Giro d’Italia, but his confirmation came in a setting far removed from the usual pre-race build up. In Bogotá, while trying to sort out a passport renewal, the former winner casually revealed he is set to start on May 8 and target another run at the overall.
“I came to renew my passport and I think the system is down. I need to renew it because all the pages are full of stamps. I’m travelling on Sunday and honestly it was a bit my fault because I left everything to the last moment,” Bernal told Noticias Caracol.
For a moment, that administrative issue threatened to complicate his travel to Europe and disrupt the final stretch of his preparation. It added another layer to a season that has already lacked continuity.
Bernal had opened the year in strong fashion, winning the Colombian national title at the start of February. Later that month, however, his momentum stalled. After finishing seventh at the Faun Ardèche Classic, he stepped away from racing, with little clarity around his condition. It later emerged through comments from teammate Brandon Rivera that knee issues had forced him to pause, although details remained limited and his programme uncertain.
Limited race action had raised doubts over his Giro participation, but those concerns are now fading. Bernal is expected to travel to Europe in the coming days, with his return to racing set for the Tour of the Alps later this month, as reported by Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week, a key final test before the Giro.
For Egan Bernal, it marks a return to the last Grand Tour he won, the 2021 Giro d’Italia, where he finished ahead of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange).
That triumph was followed by a dramatic setback the next winter. While training near his hometown of Zipaquirá, Bernal crashed at high speed into a stationary bus on his time trial bike. The accident left him with a fractured vertebra, a broken femur, a fractured kneecap, chest trauma, a punctured lung and multiple broken ribs.
Since then, the 29-year-old has struggled to return to his previous level, with a stage win at the 2025 Vuelta a España standing out as his most notable result, although a seventh place at the 2025 Giro d’Italia, more than 12 minutes behind winner Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike), was still a respectable performance.
The 2026 Giro d’Italia is set to begin on May 8 in Bulgaria and finish on May 31 in Rome.
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