Lance Armstrong underwent surgery to repair his right collarbone on Wednesday morning in Austin, and first reports say “all went well.”
Armstrong said Tuesday night through his spokesman that it wasn't a clean fracture and there were “multiple pieces” that his doctor, Austin surgeon Doug Elenz, will attach to a plate placed on top of the clavicle.
A note posted on Team Astana's Twitter website shortly after 3 p.m. ET said: “Lance is done with surgery. All went well.” Armstrong's spokesman said surgeons repaired the break with a 4-5-inch metal plate and 12 screws.
Armstrong broke his right collarbone when he fell in a pileup on the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León bike race in Spain on Monday.
In spite of the break being worse that originally diagnosed, Armstrong said it shouldn't affect the time frame of his recovery. He won't do anything for three days, then three or four days later he can start working out on an indoor trainer.
Armstrong said on Tuesday that a four- to six-week recovery time seemed long to him.
“Obviously the Giro is on people’s minds and that’s about five weeks away. In my opinion I think the Giro is still very doable.”
“… Even if I went into the Giro underprepared and used it as preparation for other events I’d still be excited to go and do that.”
Shortly after Armstrong announced that he would return to professional cycling after 3 1/2 years of retirement, he said he would ride the three-week Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career. The race that starts May 9 will coincide with a LiveStrong Global Cancer Campaign in Italy.
During a telephone press conference, Armstrong was asked what he was thinking about while sitting in the ditch after the crash:
“It’s part of racing and to go as long as I’ve gone without having something happening like this is basically a miracle. So when you’re sitting there (A) – in a helluva lot of pain and (B) – you sort of think it was bound to happen at some point. It’s not good timing but it certainly could be worse. And I look at it from a different perspective, just from the curve ball of my life and what my health has thrown me in the past. Lying in that ditch with a broken collarbone was a lot better than other health scares I’ve had. “
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