British rider Geraint Thomas is hopeful the crash which forced him to pull out of the Tour de Suisse will not derail plans to defend his Tour de France title.
The Welshman came off his bike around 30 kilometres from the end of stage four on Tuesday and received medical attention at the side of the road.
Team Ineos reported the 33-year-old remained conscious following the incident and was taken to hospital for further checks, sport director Gabriel Rasch had said.
Later on Tuesday, it was confirmed Thomas had “suffered abrasions on his shoulder and a cut above his right eye”, but no further significant injury.
“There was a lip in the road that came out of nowhere,” Thomas said on teamineos.com.
“An Astana rider hit the lip and crashed and I had nowhere to go. I landed on my shoulder and my face and there was quite a bit of blood.
“You’ve always got to be cautious with a head injury, and whilst I was keen to carry on, the doctors made the right decision to pull me out of the race.”
Team Ineos added Thomas’ planned involvement in the Tour de France “isn’t likely to be affected by today’s crash”.
Thomas said: “Clearly it’s frustrating and a small setback for my Tour de France preparations, but there’s still plenty of time before we start in Brussels in a few weeks’ time.
“We will re-calibrate and I’m sure my coach Tim (Kerrison) will have a plan in place to ensure I’m ready for July 6th.”
“Geraint took a heavy fall. The main area of impact was to his head. He passed his initial concussion roadside test, but with the nature and severity of the impact, it was felt unsafe for him to continue in the race,” Macleod said on the team’s website.
“He was taken to hospital and thankfully all the X-rays and scans have come back clear. He’s now back in the team hotel and in good spirits.”
Macleod added: “He’s been given the all clear which is great, but we will continue to monitor him over the next few days.
“Knowing Geraint, it won’t take him long to get back on his bike, but we’ll need to ensure he’s symptom-free in the next few days before he does so.
“We’re optimistic he’ll make a full recovery over the coming days though and – all being well – he’ll be back on his bike very soon.”
Provided by Press Association Sport
