Robbie McEwen Knee Surgery

Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen said who missed the Tour de France after breaking his tibia (shin bone) in Belgium. McEwen said on his Twitter feed a few months back that he had surgery on his leg and will probably be back on the bike by September.

McEwen, who has won the green jersey for leading sprinter in the Tour de France three times, broke his left tibia when he hit a road sign in a tumultuous finale of the second stage of the Tour of Belgium. Doctors inserted two screws to repair the leg but the recovery period ruled out participation in the Tour, which begins on 4 July.

McEwen, who races with the Katusha team, has had a bad run of luck this season starting in January's Tour Down Under when a fan leaned too far over the barriers with a camera lens than smashed into McEwen's arm during a sprint for the finish line.

In April he suffered concussion and other injuries in a crash in the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen race in Belgium forcing him to abandon plans to ride the Giro d'Italia. He was back in form winning a stage of the Tour de Picardie in France and was racing the Tour of Belgium as preparation for the Tour de France. Even though he was doing all the right rehab the type of crush injury produced a ton of scar tissue that restricted his patella tendon from moving properly. He Tweeted today and posted pics about his second knee surgery.

"look at the inside of my knee. operated yday by Prof.Alfredson in Sweden. scar tissue had adhered + blocked t ..."

"inside of my knee showing scar tissue being removed. it was completely blocked so tendon couldn,t move"

"after removal of scar tissue and new blood vessels.Freed up, this is how a tendon should look. it was stuck a "

"yes i was awake, local anaesthetic. i was watching but someone else took the pics for me. The uni sports centre here in Umea is fantastic!"

Well I want to wish Robbie McEwen a quick recovery and hope to see him sprinting early next season