A little over two months after he suffered a bad fracture to his leg in the Tour of Taiwan, UnitedHealthcare rider Martyn Irvine has got back on his bike and has moved closer towards a return to competition.
The world scratch race champion attended the finish of the An Post Rás on Sunday and gave an update then as regards the rapid progress he has been making. “I had a broken leg, recovery and no crutches any more, so I’m back on the road,” he told VeloNation in the video interview below.
Irvine has been regularly attending the Sports Institute in Northern Ireland and receiving guidance from them. “They are steering me, what to do and what not to do. Kind of holding me back off the bike because the muscles are all screwed up,” he said.
However that changed as of Sunday. “I will do 30 minutes tonight and that will be my first time on the road bike since February. It will be interested. I am raring to get going.”
On February 21st Irvine became the first Irishman to win a track cycling world championship in over 100 years when he triumphed in the scratch race in Minsk, Belarus. He won the scratch race less than an hour after he took a silver medal in the individual pursuit. The back-to-back medals plus the nature of his scratch race success saw many regard Irvine’s performances as arguably the most impressive of the worlds.
After returning to Ireland and doing some longer endurance spins, he shifted his attention to road racing and his new contract with the UnitedHealthcare pro cycling team. However he crashed hard on the fourth stage of the Tour of Taiwan, suffering a proximal femur fracture.
Following surgery in Taiwan, he returned to Ireland and continued his recovery there. In addition to getting married to his fiancée Grace McNally, he has also been working hard at physiotherapy and explains that things have gone better than was expected.
“I am way ahead of schedule. They are expecting me to still be in bed, the doctors, so I am delighted that way,” he smiled.
“I have another six weeks of physio before they let me off, so I am under guidance until then. They don’t want me to go off and do something stupid too soon! I will listen to them for another while.”
Providing everything continues to go to plan, he confirms that he will return to competition in three month’s time. “I have told the team I want to get back at the end of August, September. There will be plenty of boys wrecked and I will be fresh, so I will be raring to do something...”