Stephane Mahe / Reuters

British cyclist Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France and an Olympic gold medal this summer.

LONDON — Tour de France cycling champion Bradley Wiggins was recovering in a hospital Thursday after being hit by a car while riding his bike in north-west England.

The 32-year-old British cyclist, who won his fourth gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics in July, was thrown off his bike after a white Vauxhall Astra Envoy pulled out of a gas station and collided with him, ITV News reported.

Police said he sustained broken ribs as well as cuts and bruises in the accident, but his professional sponsors Team Sky said "the injuries he sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery."

Read the full story at ITV News

The crash happened at about 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday (1 p.m. ET) in Wrightington, Lancashire, which is near to his family home in Eccleston.

The father-of-two, whose candor has made him one of Britain's most popular athletes, regularly cycles around the area's rural roads.

Gas station attendant Yasmin Smith told ITV News that the female driver of the car initially didn't recognize Wiggins.

"She was even more upset when the police told her who she had hit," Smith said.

Earlier, Smith told the Lancashire Evening Post newspaper: "[Wiggins] said he thought he had broken his ribs and while a lot of police cars arrived it was about 15 minutes before the ambulance got there by which time he was blue."

ITV News reporter Richard Gaisford said parts of the car were still visible on the ground at the scene of the collision early Thursday.

Lancashire Police said in a statement late Wednesday:  “Police were called to the scene of a road traffic accident at Crow Orchard Road in Wrightington at about 6 p.m. this evening. A cyclist has been involved in a collision with a white Vauxhall Astra car.

"The rider of the bike, a 32-year-old local man, was taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries not thought to be life-threatening. His family have been told."

ITV News is the U.K. partner of NBC News.

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