Vicioso takes first steps after femur fracture

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Two days after his successful operation in the Villa Stuart Hospital in Roma, Angel Vicioso (Katusha) was able to make his first steps with a walker in the hallway of the hospital. If Vicoso's health situation continues to evolve well, he is expected to be able to leave the hospital by the end of the week. At home, Vicioso will need to recover in the coming weeks from the surgical procedure, after which he can start his long rehabilitation.

After his crash in Cassino, in the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia, a complex threefold right femur fracture was diagnosed. One day later, on Friday May 16, Angel Vicioso underwent a 3.5-hour operation.

Doctors were able to repair the thighbone through intramedullary fixation (nail insertion). Addional screws were used to fixate the femural neck as well as some loose bone material. Post-operational X-rays showed a succesful intervention as well as a good alignment of the femur.

Vicioso's teammate Joaquim Rodriguez also underwent surgery on Monday, May 19 to fix his right thumb, which he broke in the same crash that injured Vicioso. Rodriguez underwent a succesful operation in Barcelona, where a pin was introduced in the phalanx to fix the fracture.

Giampaolo Caruso, also involved in the stage 6 crash, was a little luckier in that X-rays revealed no new fractures for him. However, he's still complaining of pain in his left hip and will undergo an MRI scan on Tuesday. He's also still recovering from a broken scaphoid after a crash during the Giro d'Italia's opening days in Belfast.