‘So good to have a shower’ – Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne’s relief as halo removed

The six-time British Superbike champion broke all of his ribs, his neck and four vertebrae in testing at Snetterton, with doctors placing his head in a robotic-like contraption as the first stage of his recovery.

Byrne will now wear a neck brace until the end of August, before having further scans to see if his neck is healing.

"I'll have another CT scan at 6 months to see if there's any more progress bone growth wise then in 9 months I should hopefully be able to have all the metal work removed from my spine," he wrote on Instagram.

"[It’s a] long road ahead but a nice step made today, I can't even begin to tell you how good the 20 odd minute shower I just had felt!"

The 41-year-old, who has not ruled out a return to racing should he make a full recovery, has been a regular fixture in the Eurosport studio and recently answered fans’ questions while in the ‘halo’ brace.