"Jonas (Vingegaard) has had a successful operation on his collarbone. He will spend the next few weeks recovering. It is not yet certain how long the recovery will take," the team's social media accounts read.

Vingegaard crashed on Thursday during the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, along with more than a dozen other riders, around 30 kilometres from the finish line, and was placed in a lateral safety position by the emergency services, before being taken off on a stretcher with breathing assistance and a neck brace.

As well as fractures to his collarbone and ribs, the winner of the last two Tour de France races suffered a pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax.

Visma-Lease a Bike says that Vingegaard "is doing well" and thanks him for the messages he has received.

The crash occurred on a descent and involved more than a dozen riders, with the organisation neutralising the stage, with many ambulances on site to assist the cyclists.

Primoz Roglic (BORA-hansgrohe), who was leading the race, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jay Vine (UAE Emirates) were also involved in the crash.