Paris - Belgian Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet is to undergo surgery on a fractured ankle, his BMC racing team said on Monday.
A winner of stages on the past two editions of the Tour de France and always fancied in the one-day classics, the 31-year-old picked up the injury while mountain biking at the weekend.
BMC said Van Avermaet would be back in time for the start of the 2017 season. He is set to have surgery in Antwerp on Tuesday and will be out of the saddle for up to four weeks.