Davide Formolo (Movistar Team) should be ramping up his training towards next season but the former Italian road race champion is instead facing six weeks on the sideline after a freak accident with a tea cup.
It dropped on his foot, cutting it and causing soft tissue damage, with surgery now required to repair the damage. And medics have told him he will face six weeks out before he can get back on his bike.
"There's nothing you can do about it, life is strange sometimes," he said. "You ride about 30,000km a year with trucks brushing against your handlebars, as if it were normal. You dive downhill on wet roads like Valentino Rossi at Mugello.
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"Then one evening, a teacup lands on your foot, causing a small cut, and you can no longer lift your big toe. So tomorrow morning I'm having surgery to stitch the tendon, followed by a long rehabilitation period that will be at least six weeks of stopping."
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Formolo (33) completed his first season for Movistar this year - joining from UAE Team Emirates - and as he has two years left to run on his contract, the late start to the 2026 campaign he now faces shouldn't do him too much damage.
The winner of a Giro stage in 2015 and Italian road race champion in 2019, Formolo has taken six victories during his career and started 16 Grand Tours, finishing 13 of them. His last victory was two years ago, at Veneto Classic (1.Pro).
