After he broke his knee in a crash while checking the course for the Tour de Suisse time trial, Sergio Henao has announced that his season is likely to be over. The setback is another huge blow after his team had put him on inactive status for most of the year.

Things were finally starting to look good for Sergio Henao when he returned to competition at the Tour de Suisse after a long break from competition. His Sky team had allowed him to return to racing after he had been put on inactive status due to abnormal blood values, with a research project proving that the abnomalies were likely to be caused by his status as a high-altitude native.

Henao seemed to be in excellent condition when he finished third in stage 3 and was one of the favourites to win the race overall when disaster struck. During the warm-up for the time trial, he was hit by a car and he was later diagnosed with a broken knee.

Despite his lack of racing, Henao had hoped to secure a spot on the Sky roster for the Tour de France but those hopes have now been dashed. In fact the season is likely to be over for the talented Colombian who finished in the top 10 when he made his grand tour debut in the 2012 Giro d'Italia.

“It was quite scary, thank God it wasn’t too bad, because it could have been much worse. The mechanic and the technician said, in the car on the way back, that they couldn’t see me after the crash,” Henao explained in an interview with Biciciclismo.

“I was at a crossroads and there were several volunteers and I did not know that the roads were still open. I was going around 30 kilometres per hour. The truth is, I didn’t see the car and I don’t think they saw me either. There was no time for anything, I just felt the impact.

“It’s pointless trying to hasten my recover and try to return. My priority is to be good physically, at 100 percent, and I don’t think I will be able to return to racing this season.

“It’s hard. This is something that I didn’t want to go through. All of us want have only victories and podiums, but for me I have had two knocks, first I had to stop and now the injury. I can only have patience, time heals everything. This is a year to forget, a lost year, but I can learn a lot mentally for my life. With this injury I can only work hard to get back to 100 percent. I have the belief, the desire to return and the hunger to be with the best.”

The setback was made even bigger by the fact that Henao had felt good in his first race back.

“I immediately realised that I was physically very strong and I believed that I could at least fight for the general classification," he said. "For me, it was a joy when I was third in the stage that Sagan won."