Luis Leon Sanchez gets a scare

Spaniard Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d'Epargne)

Spaniard Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d'Epargne) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Luis Leon Sanchez, the Caisse d'Epargne team's hopeful for the Tour de France, got a scare during training today when he was hit by a car. The Spaniard was training in Murcia along with teammates Alejandro Valverde and Francisco Perez when the accident occurred.

Sanchez was fortunate enough to escape the incident without serious injury.

"We were going down to the port of Sierra Espuña when I was hit by a car.  At the time I could not move for the pain and I was taken to hospital by ambulance for x-rays. Luckily it has only been a shock and I have nothing broken, " said Sanchez.

Sanchez will take Valverde's place as captain of the team for the Tour de France after Valverde was suspended this week. The Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed that Valverde had committed a past doping offense based on evidence from Operacion Puerto and banned him until December 31, 2011.

Valverde continues to train in hopes that he can overturn the decision in the Supreme Court of Switzerland.

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