Broken arm sidelines Loeb

UPDATE World rally champion Sebastien Loeb has had surgery after breaking his right arm in a fall off his mountain bike, his Kronos team said.

"I underwent surgery on Wednesday morning," Frenchman Loeb said on the Kronos Web site.

"Then I talked to the doctor who gave me comforting news about my injury. The surgery went fairly well but I won't be able to take part to the rally in Turkey," he said. "I hope to be back in action soon.

"I was riding down a path in a forest when the front wheel of my bike hit a rock. I went over the handlebars and landed on the shoulder. I broke my arm. It's a pity." Loeb said.

09/27/06 Frenchman Sebastien Loeb broke his arm on Wednesday and has pulled out of the Turkish rally next month, a Kronos team spokesman said.

"Loeb was riding a mountain bike when he fell and got injured on Wednesday," said the spokesman who confirmed the driver will be absent from the rally starting on October 13.