Ten days after being hit by a car while training in Gran Canaria and breaking both collarbones, Emma Johansson returned to cycling yesterday, issuing photos of herself on the indoor trainer.
With scars from her operation clearly visible, she has been able to start working on her recovery to fitness. She initially indicated that she would be sidelined for much longer.
“I’m bruised and I think I need to rest for four to five weeks,” she told Swedish TV channel SV2 on January 15th. She underwent surgery four days after that.
Johansson’s recovery appears to be ahead of track, although she makes clear that it has been no walk in the park thus far.
“When I first woke up in the evening after the operation I have to admit that I thought that I better shouldn’t gone through with it. The pain was excruciating,” she wrote on her online blog.
She went on to describe her difficulty at carrying out as simple a task as eating, saying that it took twenty minutes to eat three slices of bread.
The Hitec Products - Mistral Home Cycling Team rider will continue to build form gradually, although the defence of her Omloop Het Nieuwsblad crown looks very unlikely. It takes place in Gent in exactly one month’s time. She has won the past two editions of the race.
The Olympic Games road race is Johansson’s big target for the season. That gives her several months to reach peak form, although she has said that she wants to be in good shape for the Ronde Van Vlaanderen on April 1st.