Emergency surgery for Ballan after high-speed crash

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Alessandro Ballan (BMC) was descending the Coll de Rates, north of Benidorm on Thursday when he crashed at high-speed leaving him with a broken leg, broken rib and an injured spleen.

According to BMC Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Max Testa, the Italian will require two separate surgeries with the removal of Ballan's spleen the most urgent.

Ballan was taken to hospital by team doctor Dario Spinelli where he was found to have suffered a mid-shaft, displaced fracture of his left femur, a fracture of his ninth rib and some abdominal trauma.

"The broken rib actually made a small puncture in his lung," Dr. Testa said. "The first priority is the spleen injury - that is considered a medical emergency."

The first surgery took place on Thursday night and a decision will be made on when and where Ballan's left leg can be operated on.

Ballan had been scheduled to begin his season at next month's Tour Down Under in Adelaide as he often does, however it is not yet known when the former world champion will be back on his bike.

"Of course his loss means a lot since Alessandro is one of our key riders for the classics," said BMC Directeur Sportif John Lelangue.

"But most important right now is that he can recover and just get back to his normal process. We'll wait for all the medical information before even beginning to think about what could be his plan for coming back."