CURSE OF FRIDAY 13TH HITS ACADEMY RIDERS IN GERMANY

Four riders from British Cycling?s Olympic Academy crashed while racing in Germany today, with Ben Swift coming off worse and having to pull out of the Thüringhen Rundfarht stage race.

Swift was sat comfortably in the peloton in the closing kilometres as his team mates chased down a break to set up a bunch sprint when a rider in front of him crashed. ?An Aussie guy went down and just took out Ben?s front wheel,? coach Rod Ellingworth said. ?It spun his wheel out and he went straight over his bars and landed on his shoulder.?

The crash was one of several as heavy rain fell on the race making for treacherous conditions. Team leader Swift, initially got back on his bike as his team mates dropped back to try and nurse him to the finish, but the pain in his shoulder and knee proved too much and he had to climb off his bike.

?He?s going to be fine,? Ellingworth explained. ?He?ll rest up for a couple of days and then travel back to the UK on Tuesday with the rest of the lads.? Jonny Bellis, Peter Kennaugh and Jonny McEvoy had also come off in a small crash in the first 10 kilometres of today?s stage, but none of them were seriously hurt and were all able to carry on.

Domenik Klemme of Germany currently leads the under-23 race that finishes on Sunday.