The injuries continue for the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team. In addition to Javier Aramendía, Amets Txurruka and Carlos Barbero who have already been sidelined, they now have another for Pello Bilbao.

In the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía, where he conquered the King of the Mountain classification, Bilbao had a tumble and said after the race that “he had reduced mobility in his hand” and he hoped “it was nothing”. The bad news was confirmed today: it is in fact a non-displaced fracture of the head of the third metacarpal and requires a splint. Following this examination, he cannot compete for 21 days or train on the road, although the team will have to see how the injury evolves in order to see if this time frame can be shortened.

For Bilbao the injury is “a setback, we will have to see to what degree it affects the planning for the rest of the season. I hope I can shorten those time frames but we’ll just have to see as we go. The goal is for it to affect me as little as possible so I can prepare for the Vuelta al País Vasco and be able to compensate for a lack of road cycling with static training. Mentally, it doesn’t affect me because I’m convinced that this hurdle will not stand in the way of me making it to Itzulia [Pais Vasco, ed.] and that I will be able to make up for the lack of training with renewed energy."

Aramendía and Txurruka are still not able to compete for some time, while Barbero who still needs a revision and confirmation, is already in the final stretch of his recovery and will be back at the team’s disposal shortly.