He wrote part of SBK history by securing three world titles (2001, 2006, and 2008) on a Ducati, but Troy Bayliss was also an example of stoicism and boundless love for two wheels. Fearless and always ready to throw his heart over a hurdle, he's been the victim of several sensational injuries, such as the one that occurred during Race 1 at Donington in 2007, when he had even urged doctors to amputate the pinky of his right hand so that he could immediately return to racing.
Besides this extreme episode, which is reminiscent of an old-fashioned way of living the sport, the Australian rider has been the protagonist of several knockouts in training and on his free time.
These include one in 2005, when he was competing in the MotoGP with Honda. While preparing for the Suzuka GP on a dirt bike, he fell, fracturing his wrist in several places, so he could no longer continue the season.
Exactly ten years later, far from the competitions that mattered - were it not for a brief stint as a replacement for Davide Giuliano - he was in Sacramento, competing in the Flat Track semifinals, when he broke an ankle. Then, just three months later, he fractured his collarbone, left thumb, a rib, and several vertebrae during the Australian Senior Track race.
Troy's accidents, however, don't only derive from motorcycles. It was the year 2021 when, on a downhill bike, he fell and fractured his C4 vertebra, with injury to his spinal cord.
More recently, last August, the 56-year-old rider slipped while allegedly testing a newly purchased electric dirt bike. He fractured seven ribs and a collarbone, and also punctured a lung. He had already broken an ankle in an accident in June, about which no details are available.
Yet, a few months after his umpteenth setback, the three-time world champion wanted to demonstrate that he was in great shape and, on his social media profile, he unboxed a very special gift, which arrived just in time for Christmas: a Ducati Desmo 450 MX (sold on the British market for £.11,000 Pounds) that Troy has apparently been expecting for a long time.