'Sore' Wiggins thanks well-wishers

Tour de France winner and four-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins was "looking forward to getting back on the bike" as he continued to recover from injuries sustained in a road accident.

The 32-year-old athlete spent a night in hospital in Preston after he a van collided near his home in Lancashire on Wednesday night.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and messages over the last 48 hours, and of course all the staff at the Royal Preston Hospital who looked after me so well," Wiggins said on www.teamsky.com last night.

"Although I'm still a little bit sore I will now be spending time at home with my family and concentrating on making a full recovery. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike soon and continuing my preparations for the 2013 season."

After a formal interview, the van driver, Cath Burrows, 44, was summonsed by Lancashire Police over driving without due care and attention.

Four-time Olympic champion Wiggins was taken to hospital with a bruised hand and ribs after the collision near his home.

Wiggins, who became the Tour's first British winner in July before winning Olympic time-trial gold at Hampton Court on August 1, also issued an apology for a one-fingered gesture to photographers as he travelled home on Thursday.

He said on Friday: "I would also like to apologise for the gesture that I made when I arrived home yesterday afternoon. I was tired, in a lot of pain, and just wanted to get inside, but I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I'm sorry for that."

In a separate road accident, British cycling head coach Shane Sutton was also admitted to hospital on Thursday with a fractured cheek bone and bleeding on the brain.

Sutton, 55, was riding along the A6 Stockport Road in Levenshulme when he was involved in a collision with a blue Peugeot 206 driven by a 61-year-old man.