Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) has undergone successful surgery on his right hip, according to a statement from his team. The Olympic champion had an operation to resect some calcified lesions in deep soft tissue yesterday, at the Hospital in Begoña de Gijón, in his native Asturias region of northern Spain.
Sánchez reportedly underwent the procedure with an epidural anaesthetic, then spent the night in the hospital to remain under observation. He is expected to return home today (Thursday), but will still have a drain in his wound, which he will have to wear for a few days.
Although he missed out on his season target of a podium at the Tour de France, where he finished sixth, Sánchez’ 2011 was one of the best years of his career. The Euskaltel-Euskadi climber took a prestigious Tour stage win at Luz-Ardiden and went on to take the polka-dot mountains jersey. He elected to sit out his home Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España, but hoped to be able to perform in the races at the end of the season; unfortunately a bout of food poisoning struck the orange-clad team at the Tour of Beijing, in China, and he was unable to repeat the glory that he took in the Olympic Games there in 2008.
With Euskaltel-Euskadi one of the teams that are not assured of retaining its ProTeam status, and with reports of the team’s future itself in jeopardy with Euskaltel apparently poised to end its sponsorship, the Basque team could be looking to a fully fit Sánchez to secure it invitations to the big races it wants to ride.