A CYCLIST was fighting for his life after he was involved in a pile-up with 15 other riders.

The group of about 30 cyclists from the Horwich-based Lancashire Road Club were involved in a incident after some riders slipped on black ice.

John Martindale, aged 41, was air-lifted to Royal Preston Hospital after fracturing his skull during the crash in Chorley New Road, Horwich, near the Crown Hotel, at 10am on Saturday morning.

Mr Martindale, of Horwich, got up after the pile-up but had a large bump on his head and blood was dripping from his right ear. He was later transferred to Hope Hospital in Salford where he is said to be a in a "critical but stable" condition.

Two other riders, Craig Battersby and Chris Greenslade, both aged 33, were taken by ambulance to the Royal Bolton Hospital suffering from facial injuries and broken teeth.

Mr Battersby, who also broke his finger, cracked a rib and lost a tooth, was the first rider to slip on the ice.

He said: "I think I am very lucky. But I have been a cyclist for 20 years and this is by far the worst accident I have had."

John Bellamy, aged 39, of Chequerbent, Westhoughton, was riding towards the back of the group and was one of the few who managed to escape the pile-up.

He said: "All of a sudden, Craig just went down. I went past him and when I stopped and looked around it was just chaos.

"This happened because of ice on the road. Why had they not gritted it?"

Mike Smith, president of the club, which was established in 1923, said: "I am just shocked that this has happened.

"It's a main road and you would expect it to have been gritted. It's fortunate that the traffic was light because if there had been a car behind them, we could have had another accident like the one in Wales when four people were killed."

Cllr Roger Hayes, executive member for environmental services at Bolton Council, said he would be 'very surprised' if the road had not been gritted. "We grit the roads very regularly and we have a rota of people on call," he said.