Thomas Voeckler(Europcar) has successfully undergone a shoulder surgery last Thursday. The surgery removed a plate that was inserted after the collarbone fracture in last year's Amstel Gold race, as the rider announces.

Voeckler will rest for only a few days, and it will not affect his campaign in Tour Down Under, which begins next Sunday, Jan 19. The Alsatian rider will travel to Australia on Jan 12, and then prepare for the race, in which he'll be the GC leader for the Europcar team.

As Europcar is promoted to World Tour level, Voeckler will have a lot more race days than usual. He'll attend Paris-Nice before heading to Milan-San Remo, which he'll presumably have a decent chance because of the route change. After that, the Alsatian rider will attend Tour of Basque Country and then the Ardennes classic, before the annual big show in Tour de France.