Tony Martin has undergone surgery on his broken collarbone in Hamburg, Germany, an injury which will keep him out of training for two weeks.
Yellow jersey holder Martin suffered the injury in a crash just 800 metres from the finish line on stage six of the Tour de France but continued to the line to defend his race lead.
But a short while after the podium presentation it was confirmed that Martin had suffered a compound fracture of his left collarbone and flew to Hamburg for surgery.
"I will follow the race on TV today from the hospital," Martin said in a press release. "It will be strange but that’s life and cycling. I have to try to see the glass half full and keep the good memories.
"I had a great first part of the Tour with a great team around me. I won a stage and wore the yellow jersey for the first time in my career.
"A dream came true during this Tour and now I’m already looking forward to coming back one day again and living the great emotions of this race.”
Martin's Etixx-Quick-Step teammate Zdenek Stybar won stage six, having broken away from the lead group in the last 200 metres.
Stybar said after the stage: "For Tony it must be crazy because he lost the TT, which was what he was focusing on, by a few seconds. Then he had two stages where he was just seconds short of the yellow jersey.
"Then he took it on a stage where he probably didn't expect to take it, and he won solo. Then today, he crashed. So for him, personally, it must be crazy."
Watch highlights from stage six of the Tour de France
