Spanish team Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears has confirmed the signing of Luis León Sánchez Gil for the next two seasons. Luis León Sánchez, a Murcia native, turned 23 years last November, and has been showing a lot of potential. He started as a professional in 2004 with the Team Liberty Seguros, and will now join his former Astana teammate José Joaquín Rojas, as well as Alejandro Valverde and Francisco Pérez in the new team. Luis León Sánchez won the 2005 Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, and placed second overall in this year's edition of the race.
This year has been very difficult for the Spaniard, as his brother died in a motor accident and Manolo Sáiz, "who had faith in me to make my debut", was allegedly implicated in the Operación Puerto affair. While he was competing in the Vuelta, Sánchez caught a virus and had to abandon the race. For this reason, he also had to skip the World-championships time trial. "Too many things have happened to me in 2006, from the very beginning of the season," he told Cyclingnews.
