Scratch race world champion Ben Swift’s plans to have a successful return to road racing in the Giro d’Italia have been dashed due to a bad crash while training for the Grand Tour.
The 24 year old fell heavily today and fractured his right shoulder, making his participation impossible.
Sky Procycling team-mate Jeremy Hunt has been given a late call-up to the team and travels to Denmark prior to the opening prologue on Saturday.
Swift made his Grand Tour debut in 2009, finishing third on stage two of the Giro into Trieste. He completed his first Tour de France last year, netting sixth place on the stage to Montpellier.
His track focus meant that he has raced on the road only sparingly this year, but he clocked up a solid seventh place on a stage of the Three Days of De Panne.
Hunt has had a quiet season thus far in terms of personal results. His best placing is third in the Three Days of De Panne; he was a non finisher in Milan-Sanremo, the E3 Prijs Harelbeke, the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.
He will back world champion Mark Cavendish on the team, with Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Bernhard Eisel, Rigoberto Uran, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, and Geraint Thomas also representing the British squad.