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

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.