Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) has undergone surgery on the knee that he injured in the crash at the finish of the fifth stage of the Tour de France, in Marseille last week. The Belgian, who began the race with hopes of bettering the fourth place overall that he achieved in 2010 and 2012, was unable to start stage six, and reportedly had to have blood drawn from his swollen knee on two occasions.
“This morning Jurgen Van den Broeck has undergone surgery by doctor Toon Claes in the hospital of Herentals,” reads a statement from Lotto-Belisol. “The diagnosis that was set after the scan was confirmed. The surgery, meant to repair the damage to the cartilage, went smoothly.
“The injury is situated at the bone above which the patella glides, doctor Claes has cleaned the bone, repaired it again and filled it up and removed a bone flake at the inside of the medial ligament,” the statement adds.
Having originally planned to start the next stage, the outlook for Van Den Broeck has worsened steadily ever since. In 2011 he recovered from a Tour de France crash - where he fractured his shoulder and ribs - to finish eighth in the Vuelta a España; this time, however, it looks unlikely that he will race again in 2013.
“The original prognosis remains, the next ten days Van den Broeck will walk on crutches and he ought not to set any power on the joint for three weeks,” the team’s statement concludes. “If the recovery goes as planned, he’ll be able to get back on the bike very carefully afterwards. As expected he presumably won’t get back in action this season.”