Following a disastrous 2013 season, Sylwester Szmyd has got his second year with Movistar off to the worst possible start. On Friday, the Pole crashed while training in his home country and on Saturday an operation was needed to repair the bone.

Sylwester Szmyd had a terrible 2013 season where he never found the legs that have turned him into one of the most valuable mountain domestiques in the world. He was eager to get his second season with Movistar off to a better start but may now have to postpone his first race.

Szmyd went into the operating room on Saturday night to reduce a fracture in his right hand's first metacarpus, following a crash on Friday while training in his home country before his season kicks off in the upcoming weeks.

The Polish rider from the Movistar Team was even able to continue and end his training session normally, but strong pain overnight advised him to go to the Jurasz University Hospital in Bydgoszcz, his hometown, where the fracture was revealed and an operation followed to repair the bone with two positioning screws.

It was a general perception that Movistar had made a coup when they announced the signing of Szmyd prior to the 2013 season. During his years with Liquigas, the Pole had repeatedly put the rivals of his captains Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso under pressure by setting his fierce pace on the steepest climbs in the grand tours.

Szmyd was expected to do the same job for his new team but never got to fill that role. Struggling for form throughout the entire racing, he was a shadow of his former self and he missed out on selection for the Tour de France which was his main season target.

He hopes to turn things around in 2014 when he will be expected to support Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde in the grand tours. He will get back into training mode in the next few days before starting his second year as member of the telephone squad.