“I really want to inspire people who have taken a knock in life for whatever reason and show them that they absolutely don't have to give up.”

Para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt is speaking to the British Elite Athletes Association (BEAA) having been named Athletes’ Athlete of the Month for August.

The 46-year-old was recognised by his fellow World Class Programme athletes after breaking the UCI Men’s C5 Hour Record, becoming the first para-cyclist to exceed the 50km mark in the process.

It is the latest in a long list of achievements he hopes will inspire people following a head-on collision with a car which left him with a bleed on the brain, a shattered leg and his cycling career hanging in the balance.

Doctors advised he may never walk again, let alone ride a bike, but six months later Will was back racing at the elite level.

“It's probably changed my perspective on my career, professionally at GKN Aerospace as well as my career in cycling,” he reflects.

“In cycling, I definitely wanted to become someone who could inspire, who goes out there and does things that people think are impossible.

“Racing the Tour of Portugal and the Tour of Britain is seemingly impossible for a para-cyclist, yet I've done it. Breaking the Hour Record was pretty incredible as well.

“It's something that's changed my life massively. I'm far more driven than I ever was before the accident.”

Will was already performing at a high level at the time of his accident.

He had been an elite mountain bike rider before switching to road racing, where he achieved some domestic success, and, since joining British Cycling’s Paralympic programme, he’s certainly reaped the rewards of the extra motivation his injuries instilled in him.

During that time, he’s won four World Cup medals, gold in the C5 road race at the World Championships, silver in the C5 scratch race at the Track World Championships and made history as the first para-cyclist to race in the Tour of Britain.

It is quite a comeback and one which shines a light on Will’s remarkable mental strength.

“I learned I was going to keep my leg in December 2015,’ he explains.

“I was back on my bike riding outdoors by January 2016, and then I was back racing at the elite level by March, so I didn't really let up.

“In my head I’d always pencilled in dates. The first round of the national road race series was the first date I’d pencilled in, and it was just a case of working towards that goal as soon as I knew that I was allowed to ride outside again.

“I just set a goal straight away and I worked backwards from there and that's something that I've always done throughout my whole sporting career.”

Will still rides with the knowledge that he may one day lose the lower part of the right leg he injured in the accident.

‘What doesn’t kill you only reclassifies you’ is the joke he tells himself and he remains confident he will come through the challenge that situation could pose in the future.

And, having that unshakeable self-belief is the message he wishes to share with his fellow athletes who may also face challenges throughout their career at the top of sport.

“Believe in yourself, anything is possible if you want it enough,” Will adds.

“For anyone who's facing an injury now, you can come out of that injury a stronger person.

“I truly believe that, and it's something that doesn't have to knock you down. It's something that can build you up to be a stronger person on the other side of it.”