Martin had previously spent an hour on his bike, and the day before he had completed 30 minutes on a cycle course near his home in Kreuzlingen on Lake Constance.
"Of course, these were not training sessions," emphasised Martin, who suffered fractures to his cheekbone and jaw as well as a fine tear to his left shoulder blade in the accident on Wednesday last week. He lost consciousness for 15 minutes after the accident with a car. "The left side of my face is completely crushed," Martin said afterwards.
Now he is trying to listen to his body and ride without taking any risks, Martin said, describing his return to the bike. "It's a nice feeling, especially when you consider that I was in hospital a week ago." His team has not yet announced a plan for when Martin will return to training and then to racing. "I will only start training more intensively when I feel ready and the team doctors say it's okay."
Before the start of the Tour de France, Martin had planned to compete in the Tour of the Dauphiné in France and the German championships in June, according to the plan before his accident. He has geared his entire season towards the Olympic time trial on 1 August, in which he has been a big favourite since last year.
