Kate Richardson will miss the Tour of Britain after sustaining “a refractured scapula, an incredibly bruised and swollen right hip” in a road traffic incident.

A car came into collision with the Scottish rider earlier this week and she said “police are dealing with the incident, and with witnesses and potential CCTV footage”.

“Whilst racing incidents are never nice, we know that unfortunately they sometimes come with the territory,” the 21-year-old said on Instagram.

“Even when not at fault we have no choice but to accept them and move on. This however, is incredibly hard to accept. It just should never have happened.

“This of course means no Tour of Britain this week and I’m currently uncertain about what the rest of the season holds. This is a lot more than just a physical injury, it was incredibly scary and I count myself lucky that I walked away relatively unscathed compared to what it could have been.

“Mentally though, it will take a while to overcome. Knowing that once again I’ll be missing a key racing block, whilst knowing what sort of shape I’ve worked so hard to be in, is hugely disappointing and hard to get my head around.”

And she added: “I’d say that normally I’m good at dealing with these types of situations, but with this being my 4th serious crash in under a year, my body and my mind is in need of some rest and recovery before thinking about returning to competition.”

The Tour of Britain begins on Thursday and runs through Sunday.