Bradley Wiggins (Sky) will not start stage five of the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday after suffering injuries as a result of a crash during the previous day’s stage.
Team Sky confirmed that Wiggins has withdrawn due to knee injury, and that he has also been suffering with a chest infection.
The 2012 Tour de France winner was involved in a crash with around 28 kilometres to go on stage four, and landed heavily on his knee. Wiggins took some time to re-mount his bike, and arrived at the finish line 11 minutes and 55 seconds behind stage winner Mark Cavendish. He ended the day in 99th place in the general classification.
“Ironically, I was the last man in the peloton, trying to stay out of trouble when it happened,” Wiggins said via the Team Sky website. “They all slammed on the brakes ahead of me but there was another rider riding full gas who rode straight into the back of me.
“I’ve got quite a lot of swelling on the left-hand side of my right knee. It’s one of those things, I’ve been pretty fortunate this year with crashes. I probably could have started today but it’s best to play it safe and come home now.
“I really want to try to be ready for the Nationals next Thursday so I didn’t want to jeopardise that for the sake of pushing on and potentially doing more damage.”
Wiggins’ withdrawal from the race with injury places more doubt on his selection by Team Sky for this year’s Tour de France, which starts in Leeds on Saturday, July 5.
Mark Cavendish wins stage four of the Tour de Suisse
Mark Cavendish wins tough finale to take stage win in Tour de Suisse; Tony Martin retains overall lead
Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Armitstead for national championships
Start list for the 2014 British road race national championships released (June 26-29)
