Bradley Wiggins hospital release as second crash hits cycling

British cycling hero Bradley Wiggins. Credit: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Tour de France cycling champion and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has been released from hospital after a collision with a van yesterday evening.

GB Cycling Team head coach Shane Sutton was also involved in a bike crash and has been taken to hospital suffering bruising and bleeding on the brain.

The incident happened this morning near Manchester.

British Cycling said:

Wiggins, 32, was thrown off his bike when a white Vauxhall Astra Envoy is thought to have pulled out of a petrol station and collided with him.

A police source said his injuries from the crash were thought to be very serious at first, but later it appeared he suffered a broken rib and cuts and bruises.

The accident happened at about 6pm yesterday in Wrightington, Lancashire, which is near to his family home in Eccleston.

The junction where Bradley Wiggins was involved in a collision. Credit: Google Maps

Father-of-two Wiggins is known to regularly embark on training rides around the area's rural roads.

The driver of the Astra, a local woman, was uninjured.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said last night:

Bradley Wiggins and wife Catherine at the 2012 GQ Men Of The Year Awards in September. Credit: Ian West/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Collision investigators visited the scene but the road did not need to be closed.

Garage attendant Yasmin Smith, who rushed to Wiggins's aid, told the Lancashire Evening Post: "By the time I got there he had moved to a safer place but was still on the ground and he was in a lot of pain.

"He said he thought he had broken his ribs and while a lot of police cars arrived it was about 15 minutes before the ambulance got there, by which time he was blue."

In a statement on its website, Team Sky said: