Ciara Horne feels 'incredibly lucky' after being knocked off her bike

Two-time European champion Ciara Horne feels lucky to be alive after being knocked down by a car on her morning commute.

The 27-year-old, reserve rider as Great Britain won Olympic gold in the four-rider, four-kilometres team pursuit in Rio, fears she suffered a fractured wrist in the accident on Thursday morning. It might have been a lot worse.

"I got off incredibly lucky," said Horne, who won Track World Championship bronze in the team pursuit in London last year.

"It's quite a shock. It has given me a bit of a fright.

"I was in hospital and I was thinking: 'I'm going to wake up tomorrow and feel like I've literally been hit by a car'."

Horne will have an MRI scan on a suspected fracture of the scaphoid - a wrist bone - on Monday.

She is keen to raise road safety awareness.

"It's all about mutual respect," she added.

Horne has stepped away from British Cycling in Manchester to work full-time as a physiotherapist at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, 12 miles north west of Cardiff.

She was preparing to give a presentation on Thursday, but instead was taken to the hospital by ambulance after being knocked down on her morning commute from her home in Cardiff.

Police are involved following the incident, which happened at around 07:40 on Thursday morning when a car turning right out of a junction did not see her cycling to work along the main road.

"I had nowhere to go," Horne said.

"I had about a second to think to myself: 'Brake'. I tried to brake as much as I could and I remember hitting the side of the car, in the window area, and witnesses have said I went straight across the windscreen.

"I landed the other side and felt my head spinning. I thought I'd fractured my jaw."

Horne posted a photo on Twitter of abrasions to her face and a cut lip, which needs close attention to guard against scarring.

Her boyfriend, Lewis Oliva, is a medical student and a sprint cyclist.

Oliva, like Horne, is funded by Welsh Cycling. He will shortly be travelling to this month's Track World Championships in Hong Kong as part of the British team.

Horne, who is now track training in Newport under Wales head coach Darren Tudor, remains focused on a full recovery, with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics her major target.

She also hopes to compete in the team pursuit at next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Wales - with Olympic champion Elinor Barker and a number of emerging talented riders like Manon Lloyd, Emily Nelson and Amy Roberts - could be among the favourites on the Gold Coast.

"I'm very, very lucky," she said.

"I've had a lot of support."