– Ian Hutchinson
Miracle man defies the odds
Just weeks ago it looked as though 16-time TT winner Ian Hutchinson would be watching this year’s races from the sidelines still nursing the leg he broke during last year’s Senior. While Hutchinson had always been targeting a return for TT 2018, his recovery has taken longer than expected. As recently as the annual TT launch, the 38-year-old still had the external fixator on his injured left leg. “I honestly don’t know if I’ll be racing,” he confessed back then. “I’m doing everything I can do but I didn’t think I would be in this situation – I thought the frame would be off by the end of January.” However, after a frantic three weeks he will now line up on Glencrutchery Road. An X-Ray at the end of April confirmed he could have the cage removed, and just four days later he was on a bike with his new Honda Racing squad, looking both quick and competitive and upbeat with how the leg felt. Following those initial tests, the team travelled to the North West 200 where Hutchinson made a steady return, notching up five finishes and plenty of racing miles. His best result came in the opening Supersport race onboard the Padgett’s Honda where he secured seventh place. “The initial timescale would have seen me on a bike in March, but it just didn’t work out like that,” Hutchinson said. “Basically, because this has been such a different case for the surgeon he wanted to leave it as long as possible to be sure. I then set the deadline as the end of April.
“In 2012, I had the cage off my leg in April and rode at the North West and TT, if I’m honest that time my leg wasn’t in great shape, so I knew this time I could come back sensibly within that timeframe. Back then, the bone was infected so after the TT I had to go back for all the infected bone to be cut out. This time I don’t need anything doing so while the injury was worse, it’s in a much better position at this point.”
While everything seems to have been very last minute, Hutchinson has been preparing to get back on a bike since December last year, doing as much training as he can with the restrictions of the cage on his leg to be as ready as possible when the time came to have it removed.
“For the first three or four months you can’t really do anything,” he said. “You’re not in a good way, in and out of hospitals having operations. You need rest, you need to heal and then as soon as I felt I could start doing stuff I did a bit at a time; the key is to listen to your body.
“I was held back a bit more this time as the frame went all the way down and around my foot because of the ankle being fused. I couldn’t even get a shoe on, so that ruled a lot out training wise. When that came off, I was straight out to Tenerife where I started using a cycling machine and trying to walk in the pool. At the start I couldn’t do it every day, but I’d build up. “From past experience I’ve learned what I need to work on and my injuries were a lot worse this time as a lot more of my leg was smashed and my ankle was fused, and that’s something that’s taken some getting used to as there’s now no movement whatsoever whereas before I had a little.”
And while both the rushed testing programme and NW200 went well for Hutchinson, he knows the gruelling 37.73mile TT course is a different ball game. “I’m not getting carried away, this isn’t all on or all off until I set off down Bray Hill,” he says. “I’ll take each day as it comes and touch wood, so far nothing has caused any setbacks with my preparation.” Where Hutchinson will fit in this year remains to be seen. Will he be fighting at the front? It’s hard to say, it would be a very big ask considering what he’s been through and
‘I’M NOT GETTING CARRIED AWAY, THIS ISN’T ALL ON OR ALL OFF UNTIL I SET OFF DOWN BRAY HILL’
given the last-minute nature of his return it could be a tough year. He also has a new team and bike to learn too. “Everyone knows I only go to the Isle of Man to win races but I’m realistic as well and if it’s not possible to win this year, I still want to be there to try and make it possible for the future,” Hutchy said. “That’s how it worked last time, I had to grit my teeth for a few years riding around not so well and in the end it paid off and I have had three years in a row of winning again.
“There’s no way I can sit here now and say how quick I’ll be at TT 2018, from the outside it probably looks like it isn’t possible but I thought the same with Macau a few years ago!”