Both of Team Sky's big guns had been included in Great Britain's original long-list for the mountainous course in Innsbruck. But instead of turning up and producing half-baked performances to end a tumultuous season in anti-climax, Froome and Thomas have yielded to fatigue and withdrawn. Four-times Tour de France champion Froome, who won the Giro d'Italia in May, admitted: “I'm not where I need to be to do a world championship course like that. “He's achieved his dream of winning the Tour de France, but there's so much more ahead for him. “But it's a tough race and he's got some big opponents left out there – let's see how the next few days go.”

Source: Daily Mirror September 09, 2018 20:26 UTC