Koldo Gil's left knee injured

By Antonio J. Salmerón

Since injuring a tendon in his left knee last year, Saunier-Duval's Koldo Gil has had a hard time recovering completely. He has been training during the last few days but, as the bad weather increases his tendon problems, he will not participate in the Euskal-Bizikleta, a race he won last year.

He feels horrible not being able to train. He said that "yesterday, I hadn't even been riding for an hour when the pain came back."

His physiotherapist, who helped Gil to overcome from similar problems last year advised him "to take a few days of complete rest." The medical opinion was that "the recovery hadn't been as smooth as expected" and that it seems "related to an old injury resulting in torn fibres and tendon sheath inflammation," which causes the pain.

Koldo Gil feels he has no luck, remembering that "last year, I had to take a break for half a month with the same problems."

At the same time Koldo Gil lamented the fact that "I can't take part in any ProTour events for other reasons. I sent the UCI a letter in which I expressed to them the necessity to solve my problem as soon as possible."

The Spaniard was referring to his alleged implication in the Operación Puerto.