Georgia Baker has revealed the horrifying symptoms of a heavy concussion that prematurely ended her season last year.
The 30-year-old took a brief respite following the Paris Olympics and had just got back into a rhythm when she was hit from behind by a car on a training ride in Spain.
"It took me about three months to get over the concussion," Baker told Cyclingnews at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
"I couldn’t race pretty much the last end of the season, so my last race was actually the Olympics."
The Liv Alula Jayco spearhead says she’s fit now but learnt a lot about concussions through the terrifying experience, from sensations that derailed her ability to train even indoors, to having vision problems.
"It’s one of those things where you take two steps forward, one step back, and then you’re back and forth again, that’s how I felt. It was a big head-knock," she said.
"Then I had some problems with my vision in my left eye, and that was the main issue. They thought maybe I had something wrong, like a retinal tear, so I had to get some more information from other doctors to make sure I was clear to race, or clear to start training again.
"But overall, it took me a long time to get over feeling nauseous. I’d go out training or on the ergo and I’d just feel really sick the whole time."
The sport has placed more of an emphasis on concussion and concussion protocols in recent years, and Baker was grateful for how savvy her team was to it.
"The eye and the brain part of it - that’s a new thing," she said. "It’s like a different symptom, it’s not a common symptom, so we’re learning a lot with that."
The former Commonwealth Games gold medallist skipped the Australian national road championships in Perth earlier this month, to continue building her base for the Tour Down Under, where she made her 2025 season debut.
Baker finished second at the ensuing Schwalbe Women’s One Day Classic in Adelaide, South Australia, and then third at the Surf Coast Classic in Geelong, Victoria. She played a team role at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, where her immediate and extended family showed their support from the crowd.
"With the crash, my pre-season was a little bit delayed," Baker said.
"I feel like I’m just getting into some good form now. My role over the summer was just to work for the team. To have the opportunities the last couple of races was really exciting and also I wanted to do the team proud. That’s been really rewarding."
Baker has taken confidence from her campaign in Australia as she builds toward the spring classics - her first big objective for the season.
"These races really set us up well I think for the cobbled classics," she said.
As her results suggest, brave Baker hasn’t experienced any fear getting back on the bike and into racing after her heavy head-knock, but remains vigilant, as always, in training.
"Obviously out training on the road I feel like I’m always really aware because, you know, you hear some horrible stories and some horrible accidents have happened," she said. "When I’m out training, I always feel like I’m very aware of what’s around me.
"But, yeah, I suppose racing I switch mindset and it’s a little bit different now."
Baker is set to focus on a full road programme this season, after competing on the track at the Paris Games. She hasn’t ruled out a future return to the velodrome for the LA 2028.
"If I want to do some track in the future it will be more bunch stuff. With team pursuit, I think that I’ll leave that behind and move forward to the road and the bunch."
