Steve Cummings forced to end his season after fracturing multiple vertebrae at the Tour of Britain

Steve Cummings has been forced to end his season early after a nasty injury suffered at the Tour of Britain.

The Dimension Data rider spent a number of days in hospital after he fell with 50km of racing left on stage five to Birkenhead.

Cummings, 38, has now been discharged from hospital, but his team have confirmed he will not race again this year after fracturing four vertebrae in the fall.

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The Brit, who won the Tour of Britain overall in 2016, will not need surgery and his team said there is no further neurological damage.

A statement from Dimension Data, released on Tuesday (September 17), said: “Following his crash during stage five of the Tour of Britain, Steve Cummings has been discharged from hospital.

“He underwent thorough diagnostics at the neurosurgical department in Liverpool and was found to have fractured four vertebrae of the thoracic spine. Luckily no further neurological damage occurred and an operation is not necessary.

“Under conservative treatment he now needs to fully recover and will not be able to participate in any further races until the end of the season."

The team added: “We would like to extend our gratitude for all the messages of support we’ve received for Steve and wish him a speedy recovery.”

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Cummings, whose contract with Dimension Data comes to an end this year, has already spent time off the bike after suffering a broken collarbone in a crash on stage three of the Tour of the Basque Country.

He also DNF’d the Tour of Norway and the Critérium du Dauphiné, but managed to finish the Tour de France and then returned to form at the Artic Race of Norway last month where he narrowly missed out on stage one victory.