(Brussels) Double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar was due to return home on Monday after having “successful” surgery on his left wrist in Belgium.
The 24-year-old Slovenian’s team said in a statement late Sunday that surgery to repair a scaphoid fracture in his left wrist went well. She added that Pogacar, who was injured after suffering a nasty crash during the one-day race Liège — Bastogne — Liège, would now begin his “recovery and rehabilitation”.
Pogacar was treated by a specialist in a hospital in Genk immediately after his fall.
The UAE Team Emirates team did not say how long Pogacar will be out or whether his injury could affect his preparation for the Tour de France, which begins in July.
After his triumphs at the Amstel Gold race and the Flèche Wallonne, Pogacar was hoping to become the third rider in history to complete the Ardennes Classics hat trick. However, he was forced to retire after 85 kilometers. The race was won by world champion, Remco Evenepoel, who delivered a masterful performance en route to conquering the oldest cycling classic in the world for a second consecutive year.
The Tour de France will get under way on July 1 in Bilbao, Spain.