Team Sky climber Sergio Henao, who returned to racing this week at the Tour de Suisse, risks missing the Tour de France where he was expected to ride in support of Chris Froome after fracturing his kneecap today when he was hit by a car while preparing for today’s individual time trial.

The 26-year-old Colombian missed more than three months of the season while Sky assessed the effect of him being born and raised at altitude after anomalies were found in the results of tests he underwent over the winter.

Despite his absence from racing, Henao has maintained his form and was 15th overall at the Tour de Suisse, 36 seconds behind race leader Tony Martin, ahead of the race heading into the mountains for its concluding weekend.

Team Sky confirmed on Twitter that Henao was out of today’s time trial following today's incident, saying, “Sergio Henao was involved in a training accident and will not compete in today’s TT. He is being assessed by team doctor. Details to follow.”

It was subsequently confirmed that his kneecap had been fractured.

Tinkoff-Saxo owner Oleg Tinkoff tweeted a picture of Henao’s bike after the crash.