British climber holds on to Tour de France dream after car collision

This article initially appeared in the 19 June edition of Cycling Weekly magazine. You can set up your subscription now to ensure you don't miss an issue.

A Tour de France debut for Simon Carr hangs in the balance after he was struck by a vehicle during a training ride in Calpe, Spain in January which left him with a damaged patella.

The Hereford-born climber ultimately required knee surgery to correct the problem which derailed his start to life with Cofidis, the French WorldTour team he joined this year. Carr was told at a winter training camp that a first appearance at the Tour was on the cards, before the accident happened, leaving him injured and yet to compete this season.

"A car pulled out pretty much right in front of us and then immediately did a U-turn," Carr told Cycling Weekly, recalling the incident. "I basically just hit the car on the side when they turned, I couldn’t get around it in time."

"It wasn’t a really bad crash or anything like that," he added, "but it was enough for me to cut the ride short and go back to the hotel due to the pain. My knee was pretty sore, but nothing was broken, so I just thought it would be a few days with a sore knee and then I'd be back at it. I actually stayed in Spain to start the season and do a race the following weekend, but I was never able to ride without pain after that as I had a large swollen lump on my knee."

The 26-year-old's injuries were monitored internally by the Cofidis medical team before they realised the problem could be worse than they first feared. "I eventually went to see a specialist in Belgium and he diagnosed it as something called pre-patella friction syndrome," Carr explained. "Essentially it's where the fascia in front of the patella is damaged and I possibly had damage to my bursae. The specialist sent me away and said it should get better in about a month but to go back if not."

Carr was hopeful that minor treatment and physiotherapy would avoid an operation, but unfortunately his symptoms didn’t improve. "I ended up having knee surgery in April. I then had basically two and a half weeks where I was totally immobile before I then started to build some of the range of motion back, it was surprising how much motion you lose when you have your leg just straight for two and a bit weeks."

Now finally back in training, Carr is hopeful that a place at the Tour can be salvaged as he builds up his fitness to return to a competitive level.

"I'm still aiming to be at the Tour," he said. "I'll hopefully start racing again at Route d'Occitanie [18-21 June], that’ll be the big test. My goal is to still do the Tour but if I can’t then I’ll possibly aim for the Vuelta [a España] after an altitude camp. I’ll maybe do the Canadian races in Montréal and Québec, but I’m still really hoping I can do the Tour, that’s my goal now to try and make that."

Carr has an extra incentive to make the Tour, having grown up in the south of France, close to the Pyrenees. His family still lives in the region, which the race will visit in the second and final week as it heads for the mountains.

"I had been really looking forward to the Tour because the stage that finishes in Carcassonne actually finishes pretty much 50 metres from my brother's apartment," he said. "My brother will be able to see the race from about 100 metres away just standing on his terrace which is really cool for him."

Having never experienced a serious injury before, Carr said that his frustration was compounded by the fact the setback had been caused by a car driver, rather than his own mistake. "It was difficult as if I'd just gone off and broken my collarbone then I'd have been on the turbo two weeks later and racing again pretty quickly," he said. "Equally it's worth saying that this could have been so much worse, you never really know if you’ve been lucky or unlucky really, I guess.

"I think I've still got time to do some good preparation so I can get something out of the end of the season anyway, that’s the goal for me, but it’s definitely been a nightmare start to the year that’s for sure."