Rachel Atherton will have to sit out the next three to four months, and miss much of the World Cup calendar, due to undergoing surgery to her shoulder during nerve damage sustained during a pre-season training camp.

During this obviously disappointing period of no competition, Rachel will be still following the races she’ll miss by joining the Animal Commencal team and trying her hand at some race commentating for the Nissan UCI World Cup Series at Freecaster.tv

Animal Commencal team director Dan Brown says: “The nerve in Rachel’s shoulder has seen little improvement over the past four weeks so the surgeon has taken the decision to operate. We’re hoping Rachel will be back in training in around three to four months so there’s still a chance she will compete at the World Championships in August.

Visit www.athertonracing.co.uk and you can follow Rachel’s progress at her blog http://animalcommencal.tv/rachel/blog/