LAUSANNE (AFP) - Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas had to abandon the Tour de Suisse after a heavy fall on Tuesday (June 18), and was taken to hospital for tests on what appeared to be an injured shoulder.

Thomas came down heavily in the peloton's high-pace pursuit of an escape, and was still sitting ashen-faced on the tarmac five minutes later with doctors gingerly examining his shoulder.

"As we head into the final 30km of stage four Geraint Thomas has gone down in a crash," Team Ineos wrote on Twitter.

"Team and race medical personnel are with him now. The Welshman sat up talking to the team."

Ineos are already without four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome for the July 6-27 race after he suffered a heavy crash at the Criterium du Dauphine in France and broke his leg, hip, elbow and ribs.