Egan Bernal's long-awaited return to racing is still up in the air after Ineos Grenadiers did not register the Colombian climber on its roster for this week's Vuelta a Burgos. He has yet to race this year after suffering a serious injury in a crash during a training ride on January 24, 11 days after turning 25.

In early July, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Bernal would be part of the Ineos team for a Pro Series event in Spain in early August. However, the Ineos Grenadiers announced on Monday that the 2021 Giro d'Italia winner was not included in the squad.

The Spanish stage race will run from August 2-6, starting Tuesday in Burgos. Ineos will feature Andrei Amador, Lawrence De Plus, Omar Freire, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Brandon Rivera, Pavel Sivakov, and recent Spanish road race national champion Carlos Rodriguez on Tuesday.

Bernal was seriously injured in an accident during a training ride in Bogota, Colombia, just under six months ago and spent two weeks in intensive care. He suffered life-threatening injuries that required seven surgeries, including a spinal fracture, a fractured right femur, a fractured right patella, chest trauma, a perforated lung, and broken ribs.

He returned to cycling two months after the accident and returned to intense training in Andorra a month ago. There are rumors that Bernal will compete in the Vuelta a España, but in an appearance on Vincenzo Nibali's Twitch channel Squalo TV, he said he is aiming for the Italian Classics later in the season as his first step back to racing.

His focus on the high altitude training camp with his teammates came after he cancelled a trip to visit his mother in Colombia in early July after she was diagnosed with cancer. Despite saying that "my mother is the most important person to me," he remained in Europe to train at high altitude in Andorra with Carlos Rodriguez, Pavel Sivakov, Lawrence de Plus, and Ethan Hayter.

Last year he competed in the Vuelta a Burgos for the first time, finishing fourth on stage 5 in Lagunas de Neira. His teammate Sivakov was fourth overall, and his final competition of 2021 was the Vuelta a España, where he finished sixth overall and was runner-up for the Best Young Rider award.