Francisco Javeir Aramendia from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA who has been one of the most active riders at the Vuelta a Espana in recent years, will miss the start of the season. The Spaniard suffers suffers from endofibrosis of the external iliac artery and will have to undergo surgery on Monday. The operation involves opening the abdomen and "repairing" the artery. Afterwards, he will have to stay in hospital for five days.

Aramendía doesn't know when he will be back in action but in principle "I will have to stay off the bike for two months. However, we will see if we can return to competition a bit earlier," he says.

The 2015 season will be shorter than his past ones but the Spaniard hopes to do a good second half of the season: "The focus of the year remains the same as always, but I will start later than the rest of my teammates. But clearly it is better to stop for a few months instead of continuing to ide with the injury. Today, due to a lack of blood flow in the left leg, I am almost only pedaling with my right leg. I hope to solve this problem and still enjoy cycling.

"I am fine. I'll keep training until the day of surgery. Clearly I had a bad week as I had to accept that all my work has been wasted. In the end, I can only be at my best if I am healthy. I have to be patient so I am filling my suitcase with tranquility, patience and optimism."