Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas crashed on the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Tuesday and abandoned the race, his team said, putting a question mark over his participation in the July 6-27 French race, the biggest in the cycling calendar.
"Geraint Thomas has been forced to abandon the Tour de Suisse. He was alert and speaking to the team after the crash and will be taken to hospital for checks," his Team Ineos wrote on Twitter.
Ineos are already without four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome for the July 6-27 race after he suffered a heavy crash at the Criterium du Dauphine.
Thomas later issued a statement via Team Ineos confirming he had not sustained any significant injuries.
Team Ineos said the Welshman had "suffered abrasions on his shoulder and a cut above his right eye".
"There was a lip in the road that came out of nowhere," Thomas said. "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."
