WorldSBK legend Troy Bayliss facing months of recovery after spine injury

Triple WorldSBK Champion Troy Bayliss has revealed he could spend months in recovery after a biking accident in his native Australia left him with spinal damage and a broken vertebrae.

The accident occurred on Friday 14th May but was only confirmed by Ducati - with whom he spent much of his career - today once Bayliss had returned to his Gold Coast home from hospital. 

Though Bayliss has no memory of the accident taking place, it is understood he struck another biker head on after they had pushed their bike out between two parked cars.

Breaking his C4 vertebrae, Bayliss - who largely avoided injury during his motorsport career - says there isn’t a clear idea yet of when he will make a full recovery, but adds the prognosis is positive.

“I'm OK and I'm home, but the crash means I won't be riding a motorcycle until I regain full movement in my arms and hands,” he said.

"I really just wanted to let everyone know what's happened, that I'm OK and that I'll be back in leathers as soon as I can. It's been an intense weekend for me and my family, but luckily I'm OK and I will recover. 

“My doctors have been really positive, but there's no firm indication of how long it will be until I can regain enough control to get back on a bike – maybe a few months, maybe longer; it just depends on how the recovery goes once the bones heal up." 

One of WorldSBK’s most decorated - and most popular racers - Bayliss won the title in 2001, 2006 and 2008 with Ducati before retiring once he had clinched the latter aged 41. 

He won a remarkable 52 races from a relatively modest 152 starts and while his MotoGP career, also with Ducati, didn’t sparkle, he did famously win the 2006 MotoGP finale in Valencia as a substitute, a year and a half after he was dropped from the MotoGP line-up.

He is currently overseeing the career of his young son Oli Bayliss, who is making his debut in the Australian Superbike Championship aboard the DesmoSport Ducati.