The 32-year-old Norwegian fell during a training ride on Sunday morning and is already on his way to Switzerland for an operation on Monday.
"I was out for training with some riders and accidentally ran into a little girl who was crossing the road," Hushovd said in a statement issued by the team.
"First I tried to help her, but I soon realized that I was not able to and there was something wrong. Unfortunately, I broke my collarbone. The little girl is fine."
Andreas Goesele, Medical Officer of Cervélo TestTeam, gave further details.
"Thor suffered a break in the middle of his left collarbone," Goesele said. "He underwent an X-ray at a hospital in the city of San Remo [Italy] and is now on his way to the CrossKlinik in Basel [Switzerland] for an operation tomorrow."
The broken collarbone is another setback for the Norwegian after his spring was disrupted by illness. He now faces a race against time to get fit for the Tour de France.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
