Cyclist Ben Swift thanks well-wishers from hospital bed after Tenerife crash

The Olympian and Team Sky racer (pictured) was hurt while riding in Spain on Wednesday alongside Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.

Team Sky said the 31-year-old had clipped a rock on a hillside, crashed heavily and suffered a ruptured spleen, facial wounds and grazes.

He tweeted last night that he hoped to move to a normal ward today and thanked supporters for their messages:

Thanks for the well wishes. I am still in intensive care at the moment. But hopefully move onto a normal ward tomorrow. They have stopped the bleed in the spleen. But just need to keep monitoring it. Along with that I have facial wounds and road rash.

— Ben Swift (@swiftybswift) February 21, 2019

A Team Sky spokesman said: “There has been an injury to the spleen that caused bleeding, but this bleeding has now stopped.

“A procedure was performed on Wednesday afternoon to reduce the risks of this bleeding starting again.

“Swift will remain in close observation for the next few days.”

Team Sky doctor Inigo Sarriegui added: “Swifty suffered quite a heavy crash while out training. Thankfully though, he didn’t lose consciousness and was aware of the incident afterwards.

“We will continue to monitor him over the coming days, but 24 hours on from the crash he is already feeling better.”