Cycling: Scully on road to recovery

Tom Scully is back on the bike after a bad smash. Photo / Richard Robinson

Tom Scully was still among the leaders after 170km of riding. He figured he had come this far, worked so hard to remain ahead of the peleton, that he ought to give the sprint a go.

The small group of riders crossed a small, single-lane stone bridge 500m out from the line. After safely navigating that, Scully climbed out of the saddle and started sprinting.

He was on the right-hand side of the group. His handlebars struck those of the rider beside him. He fought to keep his bike upright. He couldn't and was thrown towards a power pole. He hit it at 65km/h. His right leg went one side of the pole and his body went the other. The power pole was fine. Scully wasn't.

Onlookers rushed over as other riders bustled past on their way to the finish line. He wouldn't be getting there today - or any time soon.

The 20-year-old was rushed to A&E where countless others were waiting to be seen for their own injuries and illnesses. It was pretty obvious Scully was in a bad way but the exact nature of his injuries wasn't clear. Initially it was thought he had broken his femur but X-rays showed no broken bones. He was apparently very lucky.

It didn't feel like it to Scully as he spent nearly a month lying flat on his back in a Galway hospital. Eventually he was diagnosed with torn anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee as well as extensive damage to his lateral ligaments and hamstring.

He underwent two operations for compartment syndrome, one to relieve significant swelling in his right leg and another to close it back up again. In the space of days, he went from being an elite athlete to someone incapable of completing some of the most simple tasks.

"I had just ridden 400km and the next day I couldn't even get up to go to the toilet," he remembers. It ended any hopes he had of riding at the Commonwealth Games.

His year had been planned out. Once he had finished the Tour of Ireland, he would then race in Belgium, Germany and the US before lining up among the favourites in Delhi in the points and scratch races.

His form on the track late in 2009, when he won golds in the madison and scratch race at two World Cup meets, as well as a stage win in the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic against some world-class sprinters and the sprint ace title in the Jayco Bay series, had caught the attention of many.

Now he was damaged goods.

It took a month before the swelling came down enough for Scully to bend his leg sufficiently to fly back to New Zealand. Once he got there, he based himself in Christchurch at the New Zealand Academy of Sport to begin the long and often difficult rehabilitation process.

It gave him a lot of time to think. Along with the dark periods - "there were difficult periods and times when I wondered why it all happened," he says - he was able to give considerable thought to his future.

He was initially told he would be out of the sport for a year, and there were no guarantees he would ever recover fully, but others told him he could be back much sooner. Scully made it his goal to make sure he was.

He approached various professional outfits to see if they were interested in him. Garmin-Cervélo were and, once it was clear Scully would make a full recovery, they signed him last month to their under-23 programme.

"I let them know how the rehab was going the whole way through," he says.

"It gave me a target to chase. I had a goal in mind so I would be 100 per cent ready once I got back on the bike.

"The surgeon said I would make a full recovery, and that was enough reassurance for them."

Scully joined one of the top professional teams on the tour. Along with fellow Kiwi Julian Dean, they have the likes of Christian Van de Velde, Tyler Farrar and David Millar in their stable and recently added nine-time Tour de France stage winner and 2009 green jersey holder Thor Hushovd.

Although Scully doesn't know what his exact role will be with Garmin, it's likely he will be utilised as either a sprinter or lead-out man for the under-23 team - the same role Dean performs for the senior Garmin team. Dean has been described as the best lead-out man in world cycling and in this year's Tour de France, when Garmin's No 1 sprinter Farrar withdrew through injury, the 35-year secured three podium finishes.

Scully will know more when he meets his team for either the Tour of Cuba or Tour of Langkawi in January before training and racing in the US and Europe.

He's still spending plenty of time on the track and has ambitions to compete in London in 2012 in either the team's pursuit or omnium.