Nine months after suffering a near-fatal motorbike accident, Saxo Bank rider Jonny Bellis will resume racing this month when he competes in the British National Road Race championships in Pendle on June 27.
He suffered severe head injuries when he was involved in the crash in Quarratta, Italy, on September 19th last. At the time the prospects of him racing again seemed extremely remote, but the 21 year old has made exceptional progress and will soon return to competition.
He knows that there’s still a lot of work to be done, but is happy to take the next step.
"There wasn't much chance of me surviving at the beginning. But now my health's fine and my fitness is improving," he said, according to the Guardian. "There's still a lot to learn to do but I'm just going to ride the nationals to get back into the routine of racing.”
Bellis has been backed by his Saxo Bank team, who have shown great support in waiting for him to recover and helping him to get back into shape.
Team owner Bjarne Riis spoke about the matter at the end of April, and said then that he expected the Manxman to compete again.
“Unless there is something wrong, which is absolutely not anticipated from the reports I have received, he will soon be able to intensify his training under Bradley McGee’s guidance,” he said then to Politiken. “As things stand right now, the plan is that he will make his comeback in the national championships in late June. After that, he will be ready to again slip back into being part of the team, in line with the plans that we have started to organise [for him].” Bellis is therefore right on schedule.
He first showed his promise in track events, taking a gold medal for team pursuit in the European track championships in 2006. One year later he won the Under 23 points and scratch races at the same event. However he earned more attention for his road performance in Stuttgart in September 2007 when he took a superb bronze medal in the Under 23 world road race championships.
That led on to a trial with Team Saxo Bank in the summer of 2008, and he secured his place on the team with results such as sixth and seventh on stages of the Tour of Britain. It was a very encouraging result for a 20 year old, and showed that he could mix it with older, more experienced riders.
Bellis will line out against a number of other big names in the nationals, including fellow Manxman Mark Cavendish. Team Sky will field a number of riders, including Tour of Ireland champion Russell Downing, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Steve Cummings and Peter Kennaugh, while Ben Swift, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins are listed to take part but, according to the Guardian, are uncertain. Wiggins is concentrating on the Tour de France and may opt to give the one-day race a miss.
Others set to take part include former winner David Millar (Garmin Transitions), defending champion Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp), Adam Blythe (Omega Pharma Lotto) and the Cervélo riders Dan Lloyd, Jeremy Hunt and Roger Hammond.
Bellis said that he has realistic expectations, knowing that this is just the first step in terms of his return to racing.
"I don't expect much of myself – I'll just ride and see how long I can do,” he said. “If it's 10k or 100k, I'll just be happy to pin a number on.”