German rider Andreas Klöden, who suffered a bad accident in training at the beginning of September, announced on Thursday that he has withdrawn from this month's world road championships in Stuttgart.

"Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to be to 100 percent ready for the beginning of the world championships," said the 32-year-old Astana rider on his website.

"I have told the people in charge of the German cycling federation that I won't be racing in Stuttgart. It would not have been fair to replace one of my colleagues who is fit.”

Klöden suffered a hand and hip injury when he crashed while trying to avoid a car in training just two days before a race in western France, which would have been his first since the Tour de France.

He was second in the 2004 Tour, but his Astana team withdrew from this year’s race after star rider Alexander Vinokourov failed a drugs test.

The German squad, which includes Erik Zabel — who last May confessed to taking banned blood-booster EPO in the 1990 — will be trimmed to nine names on September 18.

Moreau joining Agritubel
French cycling champion Christophe Moreau is leaving Ag2r to ride for Agritubel next season, his new club said on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Moreau, a household name in France, won the Dauphiné Libéré in June before finishing 37th in the Tour de France the following month after a promising first half of the race.