John-Lee Augustyn has finally made his return to professional peloton this season and optimistically looks forward to his life as a cyclist again, after a very long and well-documented injury woes following a serious crash he suffered in 2007 disrupted what looked like a promising career.

 

27-year old South African experienced two serious accidents in relatively short periods of time: in the 10th stage of the 2007 Volta a Portugal and during 2008 tour de France. Although on both occasions Augustyn recovered and returned to racing, he felt unable to make any further improvement and there were even times, when talented rider considered hanging up his wheels for good.

 

Not earlier than at Sky, team doctors discovered that badly healed hip injury from 2007 caused part of the bone to deteriorate, what was the reason of cyclist’s inability to perform on the level he previously got used to. Augustyn underwent the hip surgery in 2011 and quickly returned to racing in the second division outfit Utensilnord-Named for 2012. Unfortunately, South African was still feeling the discomfort connected with recently operated injury, what finally forced him to quit and take a break. He said that it was “heartbreaking” but that he needed it both mentally and physically.

 

"It's been frustrating, especially when you know what you are capable of," he told Cyclingnews.

 

"After my crash, I was sort of ok when I did the Tour [with Barloworld in 2008 – ed], but after that I always had needles and pains, and I wasn't 100%. Then I had knee injuries and then I had this problem, it's always playing on your mind. When I had the resurfacing done that was a big thing. I think it was more of a mental breakdown more than anything, but I got back up. It will take a while."

 

As soon as Augustyn recovered, partially thanks to mountain biking and strength training he has undergone, the South African rediscovered his affection for cycling and as he admits now, having three events completed since the day of his return, forgetting about racing on a bike was much easier said than done.

 

"Racing is in your blood, once you start. It's a hectic sport. Once you get used to it, it's almost addictive," Augustyn told Cyclingnews ahead of the Tour de Langkawi.

 

"The pain afterwards and that rush that you get in the peloton, you get used to it and that's what keeps you motivated and keeps on going. It was good to have a good rest and get my head sorted out. Everything is settled, but it's nice to be back."

 

Even though the South African rider believes he has left the injuries and pain behind him, he also acknowledges it will take time before he can reach his previous level or even improve.

 

"I'm not in any pain, so that's a big relief. The main thing is to build up the power and make the muscles strong enough so that they can sustain the threshold for that amount of time. I can feel after certain amount of powers then I sort of start going a bit skew again."

 

The MTN-Qhubeka rider kicked off his 2014 season with unspectacular yet solid enough performance in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, where he finished 51st overall but managed to make it into top fifteen on one of the stages in the process. The Tour de Langkawi is the third race since his comeback and the South-African admits there was undeniable nervousness as he lined up at the start in Gabon.

 

"I did some amateur races back in my hometown so I sort of got the feel for racing. But when I started my first pro race, it was nerve wracking and exciting. I wasn't sure what to expect."

 

As a Pro Continental outfit MTN-Qhubeka is visibly developing over past seasons, but they are yet to have their grand tour debut and experienced a huge blow as they were refused w wildcard to the Giro d’Italia this season. Augustyn believes, however, that even though the team contains riders able to excel in three-week long races, it might also work in their favour to gain more experience before debuting in one of the grand tours.

 

"I'm sure that in the future we will get invited to a Grand Tour. There are a few guys who are capable of getting very good results," he said.

 

"I think that maybe it was a good and bad thing [missing out on the Giro]. I think it was maybe too soon for our team. It will have been good for us as well. We have a sponsor from South Africa, from the sponsor side it would have been good. But we still have to learn a lot and get the team properly run, which is a good thing. We have got a lot of new teams and quite a young team. I think if we get an invite to the Vuelta a España that would be a good thing."