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Fabian Cancellara has successful surgery on quadruple collarbone fracture, says RadioShack-Nissan

Team to hold hospital press conference tomorrow, though reports say no return to racing until late May

RadioShack Nissan has confirmed that Fabian Cancellara succesfully underwent surgery yesterday evening for what turned out to be a quadruple fracture of his right collarbone, not a triple fracture as had originally been thought, following his crash during yesterday's Tour of Flanders which has ruled him out of next Sunday's Paris-Roubaix.

The 31-year-old, winner of the race in 2010, started yesterday's 96th edition as joint favourite with eventual winner, Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Tom Boonen. He was also considered favourite to win Paris-Roubaix for the third time this year.

The crash, which happened as the peloton passed through a feed zone 62 kilometres from the finish, was attriuted by Boonen's team mate Sylvain Chavanel, who saw it first hand, as being due to a stray water bottle becoming lodged in the Swiss rider's front wheel.

Cancellara, who was initially treated in the hospital at Oudenaarde, the Belgian town where the race finished, was flown to Basel in Switzerland yesterday evening for an operation on his collarbone, which "revealed a four-part fracture of the collarbone, not a triple fracture, as communicated earlier," according to a statement from RadioShack-Nissan.

"The bone was put together using a special technique with a clavicle pin, allowing for a better and faster recovery. The removal of the pin, once the bone has healed, requires a small routine operation," it added.

The team says that it will hold a press conference tomorrow about Cancellara from the hospital where he is being treated, and in the meantime according to press reports in Switzerland that he could make a return to competition towards the end of May in the Bayern Rundfahrt or Tour of Luxemourg, according to RadioShack-Nissan sporting director, Dirk Demol.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Edgeley | 12 years ago
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That's two recent crashes of top riders due to bottle misfunctions. Perhaps it is time to insist on riders hanging on to them unless they can hand them back to their team car.

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