Shane Perkins hit by car in Melbourne as he prepares to defend world title in keirin

World keirin champion Shane Perkins has escaped serious injury after being hit by a car in Melbourne, where he is preparing for this week’s UCI Track World Championships, although he did suffer a sprained wrist and bruised buttocks in the incident.

The 25-year-old, who lives in the city, tweeted: “Out for a ride today and just got hit by a car!! Seriously!!,” adding “This was no April Fools Joke either! Got cleaned up, nothing broken sprained wrist, bruising on glute! Very lucky!!”

Perkins did not race in the keirin at the Olympic test event in London in February, and attributed his 13th place in the individual sprint to the fact that he was in the middle of a heavy training block.

However, he has said that he is determined to defend the world title he won from Chris Hoy in Appeldorn 12 months ago.

“'In London we were going through a pretty heavy training phase so we didn't expect too much, it was more about getting a feel for the environment, the crowd and the track and obviously London itself,” explained Perkins, quoted by WA Today.

“Now we have tapered a little bit for the world championships and the form's coming together, so next we should see some good performances.''

He added: ''Winning a world title last year has given me the confidence that I can win, so obviously that will be my goal here."