Grant Lottering

Grant Lottering’s inspirational journey took him from near death to the summit of the Alps in less than a year.

Competing in the Leggendaria Charly Gaul in Trento, Italy, in July 2013, a qualifying race for the UCI World Championships, he crashed at 60 km/h into a rock embankment. By the time the medical team arrived, Grant had lost consciousness and his heart had stopped beating. Surgery at the scene was required to enable him to breath.

Grant suffered two compound fractures to his spine, 12 rib fractures, a fractured sternum, two compound fractures of his right femur, multiple fractures of his shoulder blade and clavicle, crushed shoulder, collapsed lungs and thorax, internal bleeding in abdomen and spleen and ruptured veins in his neck and right arm. He underwent six operations and 83 rehabilitation sessions.

Remarkably, in only 11 months, Grant returned to the Alps to attempt what he called the ‘Im’possible Tour’, culminating in successfully completing the Leggendaria Charly Gaul.

Grant says: “Never in my life have I had to dig so deep and endure as much pain, but racing past the very place where I crashed a year before was my biggest victory ever, not only on a bike, but in life.”

Now he takes on more impossible challenges on his bike, pushing the boundaries of what most people would believe is possible.