SAINT ETIENNE, France, March 11, 2009 (AFP) – Britain’s Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins of American outfit Garmin pulled out of the Paris-Nice race on Wednesday to attend the funeral of his wife’s grandmother, team sports director Lionel Marie said.

Wiggins scratched from the 173.5km ride from Vichy to St Etienne having placed second in the opening stage time-trial only to fall away thereafter, losing 11 minutes on the leading racers in Tuesday’s third stage.