British sprinter Ben Swift has decided to put an early end to his season after a scan has shown that a shoulder injury hasn't relented. Having abandoned the Eneco Tour yesterday, the Brit will now focus fully on his rehab and hopes to fire on all cylinders again next season.

Ben Swift appeared to be approaching the world elite last autumn when he won two stages of the Tour de Pologne and went on to deliver a solid showing at the Vuelta a Espana. He fired on all cylinders when he started his season on Mallorca in February and despite his status as sprinter he mixed it up with some of the best climbers on the ascent.

Unfortunately, he crashed in the final of the four Mallorcan one-day races and faced a long rehab before finally making a comeback in the Tour of Norway in May. Since then his performances have been a far cry from his strong 2012 showing as an old shoulder injury which was aggravated in his Mallorca crash, has continued to plague him.

A scan has now revealed that the injury hasn't relented and so Swift has decided to put an end to his season.

“I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I couldn’t pull on the handlebars, I couldn’t accelerate out of corners properly. So we’ve made the call now to finish the season and focus on getting the shoulder fixed.”
 

“On the one hand it’s a bad end to a tough year, but on the other hand I’m almost quite relieved in a way to find out that there’s a reason why I haven’t been firing on all cylinders this year," he added. "It’s the third year now I’ve suffered with a bad shoulder. I had it operated on over the winter and then the crash in Mallorca re-damaged it.”

“That crash really knocked me for six,” he admitted. “I had a big knee injury from that crash and I didn’t notice the shoulder as much as I had too much pain in my knee at that time. The shoulder progressively got worse and worse as I was weight-bearing on it. In the mountains that was when it really triggered off. It got to the point where after half an hour of being on the bike there was pain and it would progress from there.”
 

Having rushed back into competition after his crash, he will allow himself enough time to get properly healed this time.

“The rehab this time is going to be a little bit different," he said. "Because we’ve decided to end my season now it gives me much longer to focus on the rehab. I’m not rushing to get back on the bike, whereas last winter I did eight weeks on the home trainer whilst doing my shoulder rehab. This time I’m not going to touch the bike until I’m allowed back on the road and just focus 100 per cent on getting the shoulder fixed."

“I’m hoping to start again in February next year so it gives me five or six months to get ready and hopefully be really strong by the time I come back. I definitely have some good motivation to get going again.”

Swift was expected to be a part of Sky's Vuelta roster but his team will now have to find a replacement for the fast Brit.