Horrillo set to leave hospital

Rabobank's Pedro Horrillo is expected to leave hospital this week, more than five weeks after his horrifying crash in the Giro d'Italia. "My recovery is going better and better," he told sportweek.nl. "The recovery is good. I'm slowly walking again, with support, but still, I'm walking."

The 34-year-old fell eighty metres down a ravine in the Giro's eighth stage. His most serious injuries included two collapsed lungs, a complicated open fracture of his femur, and spinal injuries. He is still wearing a full back brace for the latter problem, and has had several operations on his leg.

"If everything goes to plan he'll come out of hospital this week," team spokesman Luuc Eisenga told Cyclingnews. "Though he will have to go through rehabilitation to recover from his injuries, we are very thankful and happy."

Horrillo said that he had no memories of the accident, and at first did not even remember the race at all. After awakening five days after an induced coma, "I did not know where I was. I had no idea that I rode in the Giro or that I had an accident." He could not believe his wife when she explained what had happened.

After the coma some memories returned. Five days after waking up again, "things came back. I remember finishing the team time trial and the weather up until the day of the crash. The dinner with the team, and sitting in the bus and riding to the start."