Spaniard briefly in hospital after colliding with car
Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne) crashed in training ride today in Murcia, Spain. He was brought to hospital after colliding with a car but was lucky to escape major injuries. Sánchez was accompanied by his teammates Fran Pérez and Alejandro Valverde.
“We were coming down the Sierra Espuña climb when the car driver hit me,” Sánchez said to esciclismo.com. “Right then I couldn’t move because of the pain, so an ambulance came to bring me to hospital. X-rays were done and fortunately nothing is broken – I only had a big fright.”
Sánchez is already back at his home in Mula, where he will be resting until he can resume training again. The Spaniard has had a great season so far. He won the hilly stage five of the Tour Down Under and the time trial in the Volta ao Algarve, which gave him second place overall, early on. Like in Algarve, he finished second behind Alberto Contador in Paris-Nice, then won the overall of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.
His companion Valverde had a good year until his suspension was upheld by the Sports Court of Arbitration in Lausanne this week and all his 2010 results were removed from the books. Valverde has vowed to fight back.