A CYCLIST is still critically ill with head injuries after coming off his bike in Poole on Friday evening.

Police are probing the cause of the incident, which happened in Sherborn Crescent, Canford Heath .

The 61-year-old local cyclist was in a “critical but stable” condition at Southampton Hospital’s neurological unit yesterday.

Doctors were understood to be keeping him sedated for around a week.

Police have appealed for witnesses and anyone with information to help them discover how the man came to be lying in the road a few hundred yards from the junction with Canford Heath Road at about 8.10pm.

It is believed CCTV of the scene shows the cyclist going over the handlebars.

The road was closed for a time while emergency services and accident investigators dealt with the incident.

On Saturday, blood stains were still apparent on the surface of a rutted-looking area of the road near a drain.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said he and his partner had been watching TV when they noticed blue flashing lights outside.

“I think a guy in a Mercedes found him. There was a Fiesta parked in front but we can’t comment for sure. They created a barrier around him. People go really fast along here. It’s a dangerous piece of road,” he said.

“At one point there were about four police cars. Two more officers came on their bikes. It was very scary for us because we were right there. We saw him lying in the road.”

Police said they were treating the incident as a “tragic accident”.

Another nearby resident said she had not heard whether the man was from the Canford Heath area. “I hope he is all right,” she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police on 101.