Having returned to Monaco, Chris Froome has had his injuries diagnosed. The reigning Tour de France champion has sustained a broken hand and a broken wrist but will be back in training within a few weeks.

Team Sky’s Lead Doctor Alan Farrell has confirmed that fresh MRI scans have revealed Chris Froome suffered small fractures to bones in his left wrist and right hand before he was forced to abandon the Tour de France.

Froome withdrew from the race on stage five after crashing for the second time on the rain-sodden roads, and those falls came just 24 hours after he had injured his left wrist in an early tumble at the start of stage four.

Froome flew home on Wednesday evening and Team Sky have worked closely with the Monaco Institute of Sport in the time since then to conclusively diagnose his injuries.

The results of the 29 year old’s scans were received on Friday evening and Farrell was able to shed light on their findings.

He told TeamSky.com: “We made it a matter of priority for Chris to have a thorough investigation into the injuries he sustained as initial scans from the race doctor on stage four couldn’t confirm any fractures.

“Under our instruction, Chris was examined by a specialist at the Monaco Institute of Sport. The process involved MRI scans which have shown today that Chris suffered a small fracture to one of the bones in his left wrist. The investigations also revealed a small fracture to a bone in Chris’s right hand, which hadn’t caused him any undue pain over the two stages.

“The fact Chris hadn’t felt discomfort in his right hand shows how tough he is, and the pain threshold he has. Chris has been incredibly brave throughout this whole process and clearly did not take the decision to withdraw from the Tour de France lightly.

“Thankfully, his injuries won’t be keeping him off the bike for too long and we expect him to return to training in the next few weeks.”

Farrell was also able to provide an update on Xabier Zandio, who was also forced to abandon after a nasty fall on stage six.

He continued: “Xabi withdrew on Thursday after suffering a head injury during the race. An initial road-side assessment revealed that more urgent investigations were required, so we transferred him to a local hospital where he underwent a CT brain scan and a series of X-rays.

“I’m pleased to report that they came back clear and Xabi is now recovering at home in Spain. He has extensive superficial injuries from his crashes on stages five and six, but he too is set to make a relatively quick recovery.”