FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

suspected he just had but after a bad operation Ángel couldn’t ride like he used to, anymore. Sergio was afraid of the chance to have the same kind of trouble: “Tell me what went wrong with you so it won’t happen to me,” he said. When he hanged off the phone, he said to the nurse in the ambulance to take him to whatever hospital but that the vital issue was to have a good operation. Once at the hospital, he talked to the surgeon and relived to know about his background, he decided to proceed.

After the successful operation, where he was put a nail inside the shinbone and six screws, Layos focused exclusively on recovering as fast and well as he could: “The worst injury I ever had got me in the sidelines for three months. I’ve been working all days to be fully recovered. Almost twenty-four hours a day. And I did so not only because I wanted to be back in the sport, but also because I lacked something. Being at home with no bike to ride made me nervous.”

He was walking within a month, but problems with two of the screws made him go to the surgery once again to have everything removed. “In total I’ve been injured ten months. Occasionally, I tried to ride but I had to stop very soon. It’s been a long recovery and many times I wondered if I could ever be back at the same level.”

During that time, he didn’t want to do anything related to BMX. “I didn’t want to see any event, nothing.” Instead, he did a lot of MX (alongside his brother) and watch races (MotoGP is another passion of his, with climbing and surfing) to pass the time.

Apart from his recovery, he spent several weeks at the DTC (Diagnostics & Training Center), a center for high sport performance, in Thalgau (Austria) during winter. “In 20 days I progressed more than in eight months.” There, he worked with physiotherapists and a psychologist who focused on the subject of the recovery of confidence so he could be able to ride like before.

When he arrived in the DTC, in early March, they told him to jump over his injured leg or to hop down a kerb. “They helped me a lot, overall with things I didn’t even know they were happening to me. They virtually had to teach me everything again. I walked badly, jumped badly and run badly,” he admits. And he adds that if he hadn’t gone there, he’d have participated in the X Games but he’s now sure things wouldn’t have gone well. “When I picked up the bike, after being at the DTC, I was convinced I could ride,” he confesses.

Now we’re in May and he feels very good and ready: “I know I’m not at the 100% and that I have to be careful, but I’m ready to compete,” he points out. This will be his first contest after the injury and he wants to know his true level: “I want to do my best and try to enjoy the event. Before the injury I felt I wasn’t enjoying the competitions. I’ve been competing for years and it’s been boring, sometimes. But the best thing about my injury is that I have rediscovered the pleasure to ride a bike again. To me that’s absolute bliss,” he claims.

Chance wanted Sergio Layos’ comeback to be at the X Games. After ten months of recovery, Sergio is ready for action and he shows so in this video where he’s with his canine companion, El Nota (The Dude), a big witness of his effort and will to recover.

His comeback will take place in Barcelona, in two days time. He will be able to enjoy, at last, his ninth extreme sports Olympic Games and he’ll be the sole Spaniard at the BMX Park class. “I’ll be facing the best among the best, there: Daniel Dhers, Dennis Enarson, Kyle Baldock or Pat Casey. Something incredible to me,” he concludes.