July 26 - Triple Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins has joined the growing list of top athletes who have announced that they will not take part in this year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.


The Englishman has decided to end his season early after a disappointing performance in the Tour de France, which finished yesterday.

The 30-year-old Team Sky rider had been tipped as a potential winner but ended up finishing only 24th.

"Half the reason that I wasn't that good here was because I've done too much already," he said.

Wiggins, who came fourth in the 2009 Tour, will now end his season with the Tour of Britain in September and not travel to the Commonwealth Games, which are due to open on October 3.

"I've pulled out of the Commonwealth Games," said the Londoner.

"I need a proper break."

Wiggins had originally planned to target the Commonwealth Games ahead of the World Championships in Victoria.

Wiggins said his itinerary had been "non-stop" since his fourth-placed finish at the Tour de France last year and his switch to Team Sky in December.
 
Wiggins joins fellow British cyclists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton who had already withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games to concentrate on the European Championships.

Wiggins' withdrawal is another embarrassment for Suresh Kalmadi, the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and chairman of Delhi Organising Committee.

Having already lost triple Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt, despite having promised that he would run, Kalmadi had only last week used Wiggins' participation as an example that top athletes still planned to take part in the Games.


Related stories
July 2010:
 Bolt will be loser if he misses Delhi, claims chief organiser
July 2010: Suresh Kalmadi - Usain Bolt will be the loser if he misses the Commonwealth Games
July 2010: Alan Hubbard - Commonwealth Games needs a radical makeover to survive and prosper
July 2010: Pendleton joins exodus from Commonwealth Games
July 2010: Indian anger growing over Delhi withdrawal of Bolt and Hoy