Reigning world time trial champion Tony Martin(Omega Pharma Quick Step) has undergone a successful surgery on his left wrist in Hamburg, Germany, his team reports.

Tony Martin sustained the injury in last season's Tour de France stage 1 when he crashed and fractured his left scaphoid. Although this type of injury normally results in riders having to stop racing, the german continued until after the first long individual time trial of the Tour. Later in the season he managed to recover well to obtaining an Olympic silver and a Worlds gold, both in time trial discipline, and a Tour of Beijing GC victory, despite having to ride with the injury.

An wrist operation for Martin was discussed and dismissed last year. But this year the German and OPQS team decided it's necessary, so that he could "avoid any potential further damage in the future".

While the team originally estimated Martin will have to wear a cast and stop training for a much longer period, the three-time world champion will now wear a special, bike-specific cast, which "allows Martin to resume training earlier than the six weeks it must be worn", the team said in a press release.

This season Martin delivered several impressive performaces, winning the Worlds time trial title for the third consecutive time, as well as stages in Tour de France, Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Romandie. Also there was the heart-stopping Vuelta a Espana stage 7 in which he managed a solo break for 175 km and was only caught in final meters.

Other than time trials, Martin will mainly focus on GC in one-week races next year, like Paris-Nice and Tour of Beijing, seeing himself unlikely to contend in grand tours and classics.