The Spanish cycling star Mikel Landa crashed with barely five kilometers left of the first stage of the cycling classic Giro d'Italia and TV images showed how the 35-year-old was carried away on a stretcher with a neck brace.
Later in the evening, the team Soudal Quick-Step announced that he had suffered a fracture in a vertebra. Landa must "remain in a stable lying position for a longer period", the team writes. The Spaniard will remain in hospital for further examination.
The three first stages of this year's major competition are being held in Albania. The Dane Mads Pedersen won the first stage.
