Yorkshire cyclist Ben Swift in intensive care after training accident

The 31-year-old - back with Sky after two years away - clipped a rock while on a descent, his team revealed, causing a bleed of his spleen and facial injuries.

“I am still in intensive care at the moment,” tweeted Swift.

“But I hopefully move on to 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.”

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.”

Swift, who has finished on the podium in cycling’s Monument Classics twice, spent eight years with Sky before joining Team UAE in 2017, for whome he rode the Tour de France that summer.

With the extent of the recovery time unknown, it throws Swift’s participation in May’s Tour de Yorkshire, and the UCI Road World Championships in his home county in early September, into doubt.