"I could have ended up a quadriplegic" - Bouhanni reflects on career threatening crash as his return to action nears

After an awful crash at the Tour of Turkey threatened to bring Nacer Bouhanni's career to a premature end in April last year, the Frenchman is set for a long-awaited return to action and he could not be more ready to put the last 9 months behind him.

"I did three and a half months without any sporting activity following this incident, it was a very complicated period," Bouhanni reveals in an interview with Cyclism'Actu. "From mid-July, I was able to resume with training sessions of about an hour even though I had very severe neck pain during my recovery. But there it's already going much better, I can now do good training and I feel that my form is gradually returning."

The road to recovery for Bouhanni was an arduous one. The injuries received by the Team Arkea Samsic rider was incredibly serious. In fact, Bouhanni feels he is lucky to be walking again let alone riding a bike. "I've had some tough times in my career before, but this one is high on the list, especially since it could have been more serious. I could have ended up a quadriplegic since it happened a centimetre from the spinal cord."

Understandably this is still something that effects Bouhanni to this day. " When I start doing big rides, I have a few little pains that start to appear. On the other hand, I don't have the slightest problem with short or intensive sessions, but it's really over the duration of the training that I have a problem with it and where I start to have pain that appears, especially after four hours."

Casting an eye to the future, Bouhanni is looking to get back to his best. To start with however, his main goal is to just enjoy being back on his bike. "We know that when you are physically well, confidence comes automatically. I already have to be physically well and then it will come on its own," Bouhanni says. "I remain a competitor! I would have immediately put my bike away if I had no personal goals."