Pinched torus ($T^2/S^1\simeq S^1\vee S^2$)

Collapsing an essential meridian circle of a torus to one point gives the pinched torus. In the torus's CW structure, the two-cell attaches to two circles by the commutator. Collapsing one circle leaves one one-cell and a two-cell attached by a null-homotopic word. Thus the quotient is homotopy equivalent to $S^1\vee S^2$. Its cellular chain groups are $\mathbb{Z}$ in degrees zero, one and two, with zero differentials, so its integral homology groups are $H_0=H_1=H_2=\mathbb{Z}$ and vanish in all higher degrees. This illustrates that collapsing a circle can preserve a top-dimensional homology class even while reducing the first homology rank.