Ballan ready to leave intensive care

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Alessandro Ballan celebrated his wedding anniversary with his wife Daniela in the intensive care unit of Denia hospital in Spain but is expected to return to Italy in the next few days after recovering well from surgery.

Ballan crashed at high speed on December 20 during a training camp, fracturing his left femur and three ribs. Doctors decided to remove his spleen and operated on his femur on Friday but opted not to remove a kidney that was also damaged when Ballan crashed into to a wall.

"We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Alessandro's condition is getting better and better, so much so that he is expected to be taken out of intensive care and moved to a normal hospital ward," BMC team doctor Max Testa told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I spoke to Ballan and his morale seems good. I told him that the team is organising his flight to Italy with a special company so that he avoids any risks. The best thing is if he waits a few more days. He told me that the hospital in Denia has treated him really well and agree with his plans of when to return to Italy."

Ballan's wife Daniela traveled to Spain as soon as she was informed of the accident. The two spent Christmas together and celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary together in hospital.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Ballan's BMC teammates Steve Morabito and Ivan Santaromita will visit him in hospital after traveling to Denia for warm-weather training. The BMC training camp will begin in the Spanish town on January 12.

Ballan has already tweeted from hospital, describing his cardiac monitor as his Christmas tree and posting a photo of himself with a thumbs up. Ballan's Twitter name account is @aleballan79.