Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara has thanked fans for their support after crashing out of Saturday's Olympic road race in dramatic fashion.

Cancellara was among the leaders in the men's road race but crashed heavily in the closing stages to miss out on any chance of medal.

The reigning Olympic time trial champion had an x-ray on Saturday night, which revealed no bones had been broken, giving him a chance to defend his title on Wednesday.

Cancellara tweeted: "Thanks for all the amazing support on the road and for all the tweets after my crash. It helps a lot to have the head up after the bad luck.

"Hope the women's race have a lot of crowd to, please to the spectators make at least two steps back please. We risked our life a lot yesterday."

The Swiss team are yet to make a decision on Cancellara's availability for the time trial competiton on Wednesday, where he will go up against Great Britain's Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.