Wiggins out of Tour de France with knee injury

SIr Bradley Wiggins will not defend his Tour de France title after a knee problem forced him to pull out of the biggest race in cycling – giving Team Sky teammate Chris Froome the chance to win it after finishing a frustrating second last year.

The British rider withdrew before the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia two weeks ago due to a chest infection and has not been able to train properly. His team said that Wiggins also has “an ongoing knee condition,” and would not be included in the squad for the Tour.

“It’s a huge disappointment not to make the Tour. I desperately wanted to be there, for the team and for all the fans along the way – but it’s not going to happen,” Wiggins said in a team statement. “I can’t train the way I need to train and I’m not going to be ready. once you accept that, it’s almost a relief not having to worry about the injury and the race against time.”

Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour last year. In an astonishingly successful season, he also won the ParisNice stage race, Tour de romandie, the Dauphine Libere and took olympic gold in dominant fashion in the time trial. “It’s a big loss but, given these circumstances, we won’t consider him for selection,” Sky’s team principal Dave Brailsford said. “It’s incredibly sad to have the reigning champion at Team Sky but not lining up at the Tour. But he’s a champion, a formidable athlete and will come back winning as he has before.”

With Wiggins out, last year’s runner-up Froome will become the undisputed team leader when the race starts on 29 June. Sky had already said that Froome would be its team leader at this year’s Tour, although Wiggins had indicated that he may have tried to ride for victory if he was in contention toward the end of the race. relations between the two were frosty during last year’s Tour, with Froome sometimes looking much the stronger rider in the climbs but being thwarted by team orders to support Wiggins rather than try and attack him.