Dutch veteran cyclist Erik Dekker on Tuesday ruled himself out of the world road race championships, which begin in a week, due to an ongoing injury to his collarbone.

Dekker, who has won several stages on the Tour de France, fractured his collarbone on August 20 after a crash in the Tour de Rijke.

"The lack of competition I've had because of the injury - which isn't fully healed - means I have to rule myself out of selection," said the 35-year-old Rabobank rider.

Dekker was supposed to return to the fray at the Tour of Poland on Monday but has flu and a sore throat.

The men's road race at the world championships in Madrid is the blue-ribbon event of the competition and will be held on September 25.

Pereiro to Illes Balears
Spaniard Oscar Pereiro, one of the leading riders in this year's Tour de France, has signed a two-year deal with Illes Balears, the Spanish outfit announced Tuesday.

Pereiro's current team, Phonak, may lose its title sponsor next season and has have told all its riders - including American Floyd Landis and Santiago Botero - they are free to pen new deals with other teams.

This means the 26-year-old Pereiro, who finished 10th overall on the Tour de France and won the 16th stage, will be able to join Balears on a free transfer.

Balears had been on the lookout for a general-classification rider for the big stage races since they lost Francisco Mancebo to French outfit AG2R. Pereiro is likely to be one of the team's leaders, alongside compatriots Alejandro Valverde and Pablo Lastras and Russian Vladimir Karpets.

Landis, meanwhile, has opted to stay with Phonak for the meantime. Once a part of Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal team before it became Discovery Channel, Landis was reported to have held talks with Discovery about a possible return - a surprise given his very public spat with Armstrong during the Tour in July.