Cycling-Australian veteran Gerrans ruled out of Rio

MELBOURNE, July 17 (Reuters) - Australia's Olympic road cycling medal hopes have suffered a blow with world silver medallist Simon Gerrans forced out of the Rio de Janeiro Games after breaking a collarbone at the Tour de France. The 36-year-old Orica-BikeExchange rider underwent surgery in Barcelona over the weekend after being ruled out of the Tour following a crash. He was set to be replaced by another rider in the Australian team at Rio, a Cycling Australia spokeswoman confirmed on Sunday. Two-time Olympian Gerrans had been selected in the road race at Rio with BMC Racing rider Rohan Dennis and Richie Porte, a twice world champion in the team time trial. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)