As it was reported in Sunday’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, Team Sky leader Christopher Froome is under threat of having a surgery on a back injury which forced him to withdraw from the Tirreno-Adriatico starting next Wednesday.

After a successful campaign in Oman Froome was expected to animate a star-studded first World Tour level stage race of the calendar held in Italy, but it was announced on Friday that the Kenyan-born Tour the France champion won’t participate in the event due to an injury, being replaced by Riche Porte as a Team Sky captain.

Even though the lower back joint inflammation was at first downplayed by the rider, who described the withdrawal from Tirreno-Adriatico rather as a “better safe than sorry” approach than a serious health problem, according to Gazzetta dello Sport the injury may have unexpected long-term repercussions.

In today’s edition of the Italian newspaper it was suggested that a surgery might be necessary to solve the physical problem. Most likely the Team Sky’s medical staff will proceed with further examination to determine whether an operation would be required, as well as to estimate the length of Froome’s recovery period.