Having made the switch to the Caisse D'Epargne team in 2010, he was due to compete in that year's Tour de France, his first in two seasons, and was favoured to be among the top 20 riders.

[4] After his long history of injuries and illnesses, Soler won his first race in four years Sunday 12 June 2011 by winning stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse with its difficult mountain top finish.

It marked a return to his status as a world class climber; Soler and his team were poised compete in the Tour de France in July.

[5] On Thursday 16 June 2011, early in stage six of the Tour de Suisse and while in second place in the general classification, Soler hit a small raised piece of curbing from an adjacent footpath at a speed of approximately 80 km/h.

On the same date, VeloNews quoted an unnamed source saying that Soler showed signs of "serious cognitive deficits" due to his head injury.