DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Alejandro Valverde had successful surgery on a broken kneecap after this crash on Saturday's opening day of the Tour de France and will need a few months to recover, his Movistar team said on Sunday.
“Alejandro Valverde successfully underwent surgery last night at Duesseldorf's University Hospital to fix some of the injuries sustained in his race-ending crash,” Movistar said in a statement.
“The operation not only consisted on healing his most serious fracture -- the kneecap of his left leg -- but also took care of and closed two important wounds in Alejandro's tibia and gluteus.”
The 37-year-old Valverde, who was to be Colombian Nairo Quintana’s key team mate in the three-week race, crashed into a safety barrier during Saturday’s opening time trial.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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