It's been nearly one year since Simone Boilard lay in a hospital bed after developing a nearly-fatal sepsis infection, with her mother at her side, fighting for her life. "I almost died," the Canadian spoke with Cyclingnews in the small town of Meaux where she prepared for the start of the rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. "Now, I'm here racing in the biggest race in the world."
Boilard is racing for the French Continental team St Michel-Auber93, and she's thriving at the Tour de France. She finished eighth in the opening stage on the Champs-Élyées in Paris last Sunday.
Her speed was on par with the best sprinters in the world - the likes of Lorena Wiebes, Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky and World Champion Elisa Balsamo - a sign that she is back to her best as she tries to put her near-death experience behind her.
"I contracted septicemia, and I almost died," Boilard told Cyclingnews of her initial symptoms experience last summer as the infection spread to the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs and blood. The infection could have been fatal had Boilard waited two more days to seek medical help.
"I had a urinary tract infection at the same time as the COVID vaccine. I started feeling unwell and thought it was the vaccine, so I wasn't too alarmed at first. After a week, I felt really bad. I was in a lot of pain. I went to the hospital for two weeks because I had sepsis. It was horrible, to be honest."
Boilard's septicemia infection was the most recent in a series of other problems she fought through. After winning the bronze medal in the junior road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Salzburg in 2018, she began experiencing what she thought was a form of chronic fatigue. At first, she thought it must be overtraining, which affected her physically and mentally.
Doctors later determined that she suffered from iliac artery endofibrosis that required surgery to correct. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic until December of 2020, "I had to take a full season to recover from it," Boilard said.
"I couldn't wait to be on the bike after my surgery and rehab, and then I developed the sepsis infection, which knocked me out for another month and a half. I was really sad."
Once she had recovered from the sepsis infection and living in Nice with her partner, Boilard began riding her bike for fun and enjoying the Mediterranean coastal area. "After a few weeks, I was starting to gain form, not my best, but then I did some smaller races in France," she said.
She connected with the St Michel-Auber93 team, won a local race Boucles de Seine-et-Marne, and began training for the bigger races on the international calendar. It's been a long and arduous struggle to get back to her best in cycling. Still, she sees her hard work paying off with a few top 10s this spring. She also stood on the podium performance on a stage at the Bretagne Ladies Tour, 10th overall at RideLondon Classique, sixth at Diamond Tour, and in the under-23 events at Canadian Nationals, she finished fifth in the time trial and third in the road race.
"I love riding my bike again, and the competitiveness has come back. I knew I wanted to race again. This year, I'm healthy, and I've done some nice races," Boilard said. "Now. I'm here racing at the Tour de France. Finally, I can express myself on the bike again, at the highest level, and that feels good."
Boilard celebrated her 22nd birthday on July 21, just ahead of the start of the Tour de France Femmes. She said it offered her a chance to reflect on the year that had passed and that she is grateful to have gotten through the hardest part of her life.
"I usually like to reflect on the year I have gone through. It's easy to forget the past because when you're an athlete, you're focussed on the next goals. I'm competitive, so now that I'm back on the bike, I'm thinking about how I can win and do a podium. I feel far away from those goals at the moment. Sometimes I'm discouraged," Boilard said.
"If I look back at my year, though, I can say I'm pretty fast, and that's good. I took the time to reflect and am proud of what I've done. It's important to stop looking into the future, enjoy life, and congratulate yourself on what you've been through. This year my main goal is to be healthy throughout one full season. Life is finally giving me a break, and that's a big victory."
