Greg Van Avermaet was one of four riders from BMC Racing Team forced out of the Tour of Flanders yesterday after crashing heavily. Michael Schaer, Marcus Burghardt and Manuel Quinziato also had to abandon.
Van Avermaet suffered a displaced fracture of the right collarbone and underwent surgery today in Belgium.
The team’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Max Testa has provided the following update on Van Avaermaet following his crash at Ronde van Vlaanderen.
“Greg underwent surgery on Sunday evening to secure his fractured right collarbone. The surgery, performed by Doctor Toon Claes of at AZ St Elizabeth, was very successful and Greg was out of the operating room at midnight. Greg is recovering well and we will continue to monitor his recovery over the coming days. The most important thing for Greg now is to rest and recover well so that we can have him back on the bike when he is fit to do so.”
“I’m not feeling too bad after the surgery and now I’ll take things day by day,” Van Avermaet said. “I want to thank the entire BMC Racing Team and all of my fans for their support. It means a lot at a time like this.”
Crashing at this part of the season is particularly disappointing for the Belgian as he had been focused on the classics.
“I think I need some days to think about it and hopefully I’ll come back stronger but for me it’s a big disappointment because for me Flanders, Roubaix, Amstel are the most important races of the season and I can’t be there. It’s not a good situation but I have to handle it and hopefully I’ll come back stronger.”
