No surgery needed for Chris Anker Sorensen

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Chris Anker Sorensen (Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) will not require surgery on his injured fingers and hopes to be fit to join returning teammate Alberto Contador at the Vuelta a Espana, which starts in just over two weeks.

Sorensen crushed his fingers on the 17th stage of the Tour de France last month, as he tried to remove some newspaper that had become caught in his wheel. The Dane finished the stage and rode on through the following final three stages to complete the race, finishing best of his team in 14th place overall. He was also given the most aggressive rider award and was a contender for the mountains classification until the final days.

Contador returns from a six-month doping ban on August 6 at the Eneco Tour and he will be using that race as a springboard to the final Grand Tour of the season in his homeland, the Vuelta, from August 18 to September 9. Sorensen revealed that he is targeting that race, too.

"I have seen the doctor, and it is gratifying that I am not going to have surgery because that would have excluded me from the Vuelta," Sorensen told ekstrabladet.dk.

"If my hand heals quickly and I can manage to work out, I'm ready to run for Contador. I'd like to race because I think we have a good chance of winning there. I have not yet raced on a team in one of the big stage races where we've won. I want to try."