John Powell was lying in a field on the South Downs, in East Sussex, drifting in and out of consciousness. He managed to hold his phone to his mouth to speak to his wife, Annalisa, who was at home with their two young sons. “I told her I’d had a cycling accident and wouldn’t be coming back home. I said goodbye to her,” says Powell, reflecting on the life-changing event of September 2020. The amateur racer and organiser of the annual domestic race, the Tour of Sussex, had somersaulted into a field and landed hard on his back, puncturing his right lung and breaking several ribs.
Powell’s condition improved over the following days, but things were about to take a turn for the worse. Three weeks later he was rushed to Guy’s Hospital in London to receive emergency treatment for a strep B infection. “I protested,” Powell recalls, “that I was going home, but the doctor said, ‘if you go home, you won’t survive. The infection is that serious’.” Four years on, and despite being beset by persistent back and ankle problems, Powell rode up Alpe d’Huez this summer and even has his sights set on pinning on a race number once more. “I won’t see the front of the peloton again, but the fact I’m still alive and well enough to have the option is the biggest victory,” he says.