Luke Rowe looks set to miss the rest of the 2017 season after breaking his leg while whitewater rafting on his brother's stag do.
The Welshman broke his tibia and fibula in the incident, and is now recovering at home in Cardiff after surgery.
"My brother Matt is getting married and so I was away with family and friends for his ‘stag party'. On the first morning we went whitewater rafting. I jumped down into the water but landed in a shallow section on my right leg.
"Being a bike rider you get in a lot of scrapes and you get used to injuries, but I knew straight away that it was a bad one."
>>> Luke Rowe goes into gruesome detail in describing broken leg that could put him out for a year
Rod Ellingworth, Team Sky's performance manager and Rowe's coach, said that the 27-year-old was set for a long time off the bike.
"An injury like this is a test of character for anyone, but character is something Luke has plenty of. "He’s a really important part of our team and, as a team, we'll be right behind him throughout his recovery."
The team are not putting a timeline on Rowe's recovery, but he will certainly miss the rest of the 2017 season, and could miss most of the 2018 season too.
>>> Luke Rowe column: Good days and bad days at the Tour de France
"The support I’ve had from the team and specialists has been fantastic and I know I'm in the best possible hands," Rowe said.
"It's early days, but speaking to the surgeon about the injury and my rehab gave me confidence so now it's a case of working towards getting myself back on the bike. I'm determined to get back racing as soon as I can."
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