{"id":369635,"date":"2026-01-14T16:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/369635\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:30:04","slug":"i-couldnt-get-myself-up-off-the-ground-it-was-scary-british-rider-who-broke-neck-in-crash-ready-for-comeback-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/369635\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I couldn’t get myself up off the ground \u2013 it was scary’: British rider who broke neck in crash ready for comeback year"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was when Seb Grindley<\/a> began searching for his sunglasses, cast off his face to the roadside during the crash, that he realised something was wrong. \u201cI couldn\u2019t turn my head at all,\u201d he remembers. \u201cI was moving my whole torso and keeping my neck completely straight. Then I realised I couldn\u2019t actually move my neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old staggered worriedly to the in-race ambulance. \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019ve got a really weird feeling in my neck\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cAs soon as I mentioned any sort of head\/neck injury, they put me straight on a stretcher, and I didn\u2019t move for the next three weeks. It was pretty crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A silver medallist in the junior road race at the 2024 UCI World Championships<\/a>, Grindley\u2019s first year with Lidl-Trek<\/a>\u2019s development squad, Future Racing, was supposed to bring him a step closer to his WorldTour dream. Instead, from the start of summer, he found himself sidelined for six months \u2013 two of which he spent in a neck brace \u2013 due to a fractured vertebra he suffered in a high-speed crash<\/a> at the British National Championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The pain, he tells Cycling Weekly, was \u201cjust uncomfortable \u2013 it was like when you go backpacking, and you\u2019ve got a super heavy backpack on, and it strains the neck a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Half a year has now passed since he left his last race in an ambulance, and Grindley is strain-free. He\u2019s looking forward to a fresh start this season. The memory of how his last one ended, however, is still vivid in his mind.<\/p>\n

The moment came on the descent of a narrow country lane. Grindley, nestled among the top-20 riders in the bunch, was travelling at around 60kph. Suddenly, a manhole cover jutted out of the ground in front of him. \u201cI hit it, it was quite wet at the time, and I just slipped straight off the bars,\u201d he says. \u201cMy chest was where my Wahoo<\/a> is, on my bars, and my hands were just completely off it\u2026 I literally just closed my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like a rag doll tossed across a bedroom, the teenager\u2019s body hurtled into a bush at the side of the road \u2013 \u201cthere were a few thorns in my helmet\u201d. He then bounced back onto the tarmac, where the charging peloton folded on top of him. He remembers one rider landing on his head. \u201cI think that was what caused the injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Grindley\u2019s first instinct was to find his bike and remount. \u201cBut I couldn’t actually get myself up off the ground,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich was a bit scary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I’d lost some skin, obviously, from the crash. But it wasn’t a bone pain. When I’ve done my collarbone before, I knew it was instantly broken. I just felt strange. I felt like my neck didn\u2019t have that much support, so I couldn\u2019t get myself up.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few hours later, as Ineos Grenadiers\u2019 Sam Watson won the race<\/a>, Grindley was lying in a hospital bed on the outskirts of Aberystwyth.<\/p>\n

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Naturally, the 19-year-old began to think about his future. The doctors told him the fracture could be \u201cunstable\u201d. If it was, he asked himself, would he still be able to ride his bike? And what about his contract with Lidl-Trek<\/a>? He had signed for two years at the start of the season. Now, it looked certain he wouldn\u2019t race for months, with a lengthy spell of recovery to follow. Might his career be over before it had even started?<\/p>\n

A call from Lidl-Trek’s development team boss, Markel Irizar, but his mind at rest. \u201cIt was literally that night or the day after the crash,\u201d Grindley recalls, \u201cand he told me the team were going to support me through the recovery process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey extended my contract for another year \u2013 with a little bit of a pay rise as well, which was amazing \u2013 so I really did not have to stress about the comeback. I could just take my time with it and ensure I was fully healthy… I think that really, really took a lot of pressure off my shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a week in hospital, Grindley returned home, only to spend the next two weeks in another hospital bed his family hired for him. He watched the entire Tour de France<\/a> lying in a neck brace. He then found himself dissociating from cycling \u2013 \u201cI was upset with what I was missing, not because I disliked the sport\u201d \u2013 and didn\u2019t watch another race.<\/p>\n

Come September, though, three months after the crash, and Grindley was venturing back outside on his bike. His training has since been intensive; he\u2019s gone \u201cfull-gas\u201d on Wednesday chain gang rides with his friends, and been on two Lidl-Trek training camps, where he has ridden with the WorldTour <\/a>squad. His numbers, to his delight, are now better than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some tests that we do every year, and there was a noticeable improvement,\u201d Grindley says. \u201cI had higher watts, and I was slightly lower weight because I lost quite a bit of muscle during that time in bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team are really happy with where I\u2019m at, and I\u2019m also happy. I feel in a really good position to start the season stronger than I even was last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Seb\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Ross Bell \/ Lidl-Trek)<\/p>\n

With his contract now secured until the end of 2027, what are Grindley\u2019s hopes for his second year with Lidl-Trek? \u201cThe biggest goal, in general, is to keep learning,\u201d he says. \u201cI also want to get a UCI podium or a UCI win, just to kind of be in the mix again.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, obviously, it was my first at under-23, it\u2019s all about learning, and it got cut short. I still need to have a little bit more time to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager will make his long-awaited racing return in Calpe, Spain later this month. After that, his focus will be on building form towards Paris-Roubaix<\/a> Espoirs in the spring; his debut in the under-23 race last year, which finished in a Lidl-Trek 1-2 and a 20th place for Grindley, was his standout moment of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, it could be another race where we\u2019ve got two leaders, and hopefully it will be myself and H\u00e9ctor \u00c1lvarez,\u201d he says, adding determinedly: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a title to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited to get back into it, more than anything. More than scared or nervous. Just excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

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