Tour de France cycling champion and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins is recovering in hospital after a collision with a vehicle.
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 number of broken ribs and cuts and bruises.
Bradley Wiggins: The gold-medal winner is in hospital after a crash
The accident happened at about 6pm yesterday in Wrightington, Lancashire, which is near to his family home in Eccleston.
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: "Police were called to the scene of a road traffic accident at Crow Orchard Road in Wrightington at about 6pm this evening.
A wing-mirror at the scene of a crash in Wrightington, Lancashire
"A cyclist has been involved in a collision with a white Vauxhall Astra car. The rider of the bike, a 32-year-old local man, was taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries not thought to be life-threatening. His family have been told."
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.
The petrol station in Wrightington, Lancashire where Bradley Wiggins was involved in a crashat about 6pm yesterday
"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: "We can confirm that on Wednesday evening Bradley Wiggins was involved in a road traffic accident whilst riding his bike near his home in Lancashire.
"He is being kept in hospital overnight for observation but the injuries he has sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery.
"We will announce more details in due course."