Elias has surgery to remove screw from femur

San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Toni Elias underwent surgery at the Institut Dexeus de Barcelona on Wednesday to remove a screw from the femur he broke at Assen last year and is expected to be released from hospital within 24 hours.

The operation was carried out without complication by Dr. Ignacio Ginebreda, who earlier this week also performed surgery on Ducati rider Sete Gibernau.

Elias is being kept in overnight merely for observation and told motogp.com, `Everything has gone well and I should be able to go home tomorrow. From Friday or Monday I should already be able to start doing some rehab exercises.´

Like a number of other premier class riders, such as Gibernau, Casey Stoner, and John Hopkins, Elias has waited until the winter for a suitable window in which to go under the surgeon´s knife and will now have until February 2009 to get ready for the first test of the New Year, in Sepang (Malaysia) early that month.