British star said he was “gutted” but looking to support his teammates.
Britain’s Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner, said Friday that he would not compete in this year’s race “as things stand”.
Wiggins told BBC television he was “gutted” not to take part in the race, but his Team Sky was concentrating its efforts on last year’s winner Chris Froome.
“The team is focused around Chris Froome,” the team leader, Wiggins, 34, said.
“I am gutted. I’ve worked extremely hard for this throughout the winter and up to the summer. I feel I am in the form I was two years ago,” he added.
On top of his 2012 triumph, when he became the first British rider to win the Tour de France, Wiggins has won four Olympic gold medals.
He was support rider to Froome in last year’s race however. The two rivals have been kept apart in warm up races ahead of the Tour which starts in the English city of Leeds on July 5.
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