Remco Evenpoel and Peter Sagan will celebrate their birthdays during the Vuelta a San Juan, but they are mere statistics compared to the momentous occasion that Egan Bernal will celebrate during stage 3 this year.

January 24 marks the one-year anniversary of the training accident that could have ended Bernal's career, and perhaps even his life.

It is no exaggeration to say that those 12 months changed Bernal, the young man who confessed to some sort of existential crisis after climbing to the summit of his Tour de France victory in 2019, would have been asking himself the profound question he was always asking himself when he entered the valley floor this time last year.

"I think it was more psychologically painful than physically," Bernal told reporters in San Juan on Friday evening.

"There were some very complicated moments in the process. Moments where I asked myself if it was worth it to keep riding the bike. Can I get back to the highest level? Do I want to take this risk when my girlfriend, my mother, and my father are all waiting for me ......?" I thought many times.

Lying in the intensive care unit, Bernal was so anxious that he could not imagine whether he would be able to continue his career.

By early summer, his Ineos Grenadiers team gently put the brakes on Bernal's enthusiasm and began making plans for his return. In any case, the fundamental question of whether Bernal should proceed had already been resolved.

"It was the best decision I could have made. I think I was born to be a motorcyclist. I can't imagine my life without a bike," said Bernal. You can do your best even in a bad situation. I hope this gives courage to those who are going through hard times. I think I won the most important race of my life."

Bernal made rapid progress in the early stages of his rehabilitation last year, consistently exceeding the most optimistic predictions about his physical recovery. But his first training rides on the road, not to mention his return to the peloton on the Deutschland Tour, were more testing than they appeared.

"So far, no, I'm not scared, but when I started training, there were moments when I felt scared. I would always remember those moments when I was going faster than 60 kilometers per hour. I think I got over it," Bernal said.

"When I competed in Germany and Denmark, the first few kilometers were weird.

Bernal wore the race number more than a dozen times before the end of 2022, a year that was effectively a blank slate from a sporting standpoint. Despite the hardships, however, the 25-year-old Bernal insisted that he could look back on the past 12 months very favorably.

"I can't say it well, but I think it was the best year of my life," he said. 'I've learned to be patient, I've learned to take care of my family. That's one of the most important things. No matter what, we are just human beings. No matter who we are, we can suffer in any situation."

One year after the crash. Bernal is not joining the Vuelta a San Juan to marvel at the distance he has traveled, but to prepare for the road ahead.

In 2022, getting back on the bike again was a triumph; in 2023, Bernal made the biggest race the centerpiece of his season. The reason' As with any mountain, it will simply be there. [The Tour de France is] the most important race, I haven't been back to the Tour de France since 2020 and last year I was training for it," Bernal said. The Tour de France is the race that made me famous. I was a good rider before that, but 2019 was when everything exploded. "

Bernal, who lost his 2020 title defense to a back injury, will be aware that while he has unfinished business at the Tour, the contours of his path to victory have tightened since he rode down the Champs-Elysees in yellow.

In the past two Julys, Tadei Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have run their own race.

"My ambitions depend on my physical condition, but so far I'm feeling good and want to be in the best shape possible. I guess we'll see as the race goes on and the day gets closer," Bernal said, reluctant to compare his current condition to the form that won him the Tour and Giro.

"It's difficult to compare because it's only January. But you could compare it to the feeling I had at the same time in previous years."

"We're doing the same training we did back then, and it's going well. So the projections for the year ahead are pretty good."

This week in San Juan, Bernal will be joined by an Ineos team that includes his faithful lieutenants Daniel Martinez, Filippo Ganna, and Elia Viviani, with world champions Remco Evenpoel, Miguel Angel Lopez, and Sergio Iguita challenge the field.

Stage 5 to Alto Colorado should be the first solid indicator of Bernal's form, but no matter how it plays out, this race will bring him another milestone on his long road back.

"It will be a tough race, not too many mountains, but it will be hot. The most important thing is to have fun."