Femur surgery for Caldwell

Garmin-Slipstream rider Blake Caldwell had to undergo surgery in Girona, Spain, after fracturing his femur out on a training ride on Thursday. The American was preparing for Vuelta a País Vasco but will now miss out on the event.

Writing on his personal blog, Caldwell announced that "surgery went well. It was a fracture of the femur that they secured with a plate. A fairly common break."

The 25-year-old now hopes that his break from racing will not be too long. "Missing País Vasco is going to be tough, but I don't have a choice," he continued. "Perhaps I'll be racing again in May. I sure hope so. On the bright side, the healing process is fairly simple from now on. It'll just take time for the bone to heal."

It is the third major injury in just over a year for Caldwell, who broke his hip at the Étoile de Bessèges in February 2008 and sustained several fractures when crashing at the Tour of Missouri in September last year. Still, he almost won the national road championship in August after finishing second overall at last year's Tour of Utah.