Tour notes: Schleck has surgery

A mixture of newsworthy items from Stage 4 at the Tour de France.

Schleck has surgery
Luxembourg's Frank Schleck, an unfortunate victim of the cobblestones during Stage 3, had surgery to repair his broken collarbone Tuesday night. The procedure lasted into the early morning hours of Wednesday, according to Saxo Bank team media officer Rene Thill.

Schleck returned to Luxembourg for the surgery after visiting his team's hotel to say goodbye to his fellow riders, which includes his younger brother Andy.

"It was a double fracture and he received a plate with six screws," Thill told Reuters. "But we don't know yet how long it will keep him out of action."

Schleck was one of the top riders to watch entering this year's Tour, and his climbing skills were sure to help pace his brother in the mountainous stages later in the race.

"It won't affect our plans too much," Saxo Bank team director Bradley McGee said. "Everybody will need to raise their game a little bit, that's all."

Wiggins happy
Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins is a strong all-around rider, and the Briton serves as his country's best hope at winning the Tour. Wiggins told Reuters on Wednesday that he is satisfied with his place in the standings (14th after Wednesday, 1:49 back).

He was also glad to have survived the tight turns and cobblestones this week.

"I'm very happy with the way it turned out," Wiggins said. "You need a little bit of luck but we managed to stay out of trouble."

Wiggins added that he feels confident with the Pyrenees Mountains looming later in the Tour, and alluded to his strong team -- which placed Geraint Thomas second in Tuesday's cobblestone-themed Stage 3 -- as a reason for his resoluteness.

"It was extremely reassuring," Wiggins said of Thomas' performance. "We really worked as a unit, and Geraint and Steve [Cummings] did a great job."

Quotables
Lance Armstrong quote of the day, courtesy of the Associated Press: "I didn't want to have a third day in a row of bad luck."

Armstrong crashed along an oil- and rain-slicked road on Monday, and then suffered a flat tire late in Tuesday's stage. He finished in the main pack Wednesday and is 18th overall, 2:30 behind leader Fabian Cancellara.

Stage 4 winner Alessandro Petacchi, speaking about Mark Cavendish: "I don't think he has anything to learn from me. He won six last year."

Mark Cavendish is regarded as one of the best -- if not the best -- sprinter in the world, but he came up short of winning the two sprinter-friendly stages this week.